Five Tips for Successful Wedding Photography

 photo credits: Orr Zahavi/500px

For most people, a wedding day is the most memorable day of their lives, and they will go to extreme lengths to make sure it’s perfect. Even the minutest of details will involve almost military precision, so the photographer who is hired for the occasion needs to make sure he or she brings their A-game with them. Here are five tips to make sure you’re a success in wedding photography.

5 important tips for a successful wedding photography

#1. Make sure you plan ahead

Nothing beats a little pre-planning, especially when it comes to weddings. If possible, you should visit the venues for the ceremony and the reception in advance, in order to ascertain the best angles for your shots. And you should always speak in depth with the bride and groom to make sure you’re shooting things how they want them. It’s their day, after all.

#2. Look for something a little left-field

It’s often the case that the best images are the ones that offer something a little different. While you will be expected to take a huge number of posed photos in formal positions, make sure you keep snapping away when people least expect it. Somewhere in there you will capture a moment in time that could sum up the whole day for everyone who attends.

Anyone can take a good picture, of course, but if you have the right education backed up by a photography degree you are likely to be in the best position to take the most meaningful images. Sometimes it’s luck, of course, but more often than not you make your own luck when you have a camera in your hand.

#3. Include everyone!

In a particularly large wedding, it can be easy to forget every guest that’s in attendance. You could take a thousand images and find the next day that old Uncle Jack, who had travelled hundreds of miles to be there, wasn’t in any of them. Take lots of pictures, and if you’re in any doubt whatsoever, take lots more. It’s as simple as that.

#4. Liaise throughout the day

While the happy couple will be busy throughout the day, you should still take the opportunity to speak to them from time to time as the occasion develops. They may have a sudden image in their minds that they want you to capture, perhaps, or they might want you to shoot a particular person who’s just about to leave. Communication, as always, is paramount.

#5. Don’t get caught short

This is perhaps the biggest downfall for many wedding photographers. They may have the right cameras with them, but they suddenly realise they have left an important lens or two at home, or they don’t have the right batteries or, worst of all, that they have no room left on their memory card. You MUST make sure these things don’t spoil a perfect day.