Wedding Photography Tips
If you're looking for wedding photography tips, you've come to the right place.
For wedding photography you need to be ‘jack of all trades'. You need to master
group pictures, individual pictures, portrait pictures and if you stay for the party
then action shots. And then to get the perfect picture, you can manipulate the images
with software such as
Photoshop.
For informal or reportage-style wedding photography, a 35mm camera or DSLR will
be suitable. For all styles, a flash is essential for lighting dark interiors. Useful
accessories for wedding photography include a tripod,
flash, reflector, and softening filter. If you are the designated photographer
and you are taking group pictures then you will need a tripod.
Wide Angle Lens
At Wedding Photography Tips we recommend a wide-angle lens which is almost essential
for taking pictures of three or more people at a wedding and not just because of
its wide angle of view. It makes foreground subjects look bigger than similarly
sized
subjects further away. This allows emphasis to be given to one or more people in
the frame (such as the bride and groom), while the others occupy supporting roles.
Altering the arrangement of people provides a range of different compositions.
Lenses with wide-angle focal lengths are found on more cameras and zooms than any
other type of lens. Even the simplest disposable camera, with its fixed plastic
lens, is a moderate wide-angle.
The most popular wide-angle focal lengths are the 35mm and the 28mm. Although both
are available as prime lenses, the 35mm and 28mm are incorporated into the ranges
of a huge number of interchangeable zoom lenses. One of these focal lengths is also
usually the widest setting for compacts and
digital cameras with built-in non-interchangeable zoom lenses.
While a 35mm introduces no noticeable distortion in most cases, the 28mm must be
used with a little more care, since it is capable of producing noticeable changes
in perspective.
With a 24mm lens, the effect is yet more extreme. This was once a favourite prime
lens of wedding photographers for group pictures, but the most popular is now found
in the range of many specialist wide-angle zoom lenses, such as the 17—35mm. Sometimes
the distortions are welcome, and maximizing them can enhance the picture and is
often a benefit for wedding photography— but it is also worth remembering that the
effect of vertical, parallel lines converging can be minimized by making sure the
back of the
camera is not tilted.
Complete stability
While there are plenty of ways in which you can brace the camera so that your pictures
are slightly less prone to camera shake, such techniques allow only a slight increase
in the time the shutter can be opened before the risk of a blurred picture becomes
likely. The only guaranteed route to a shake-free picture is to use a support that
firmly anchors your camera and lens in position. Supports such as clamps and spikes
can be bought, but it is the tripod that is the most widely used device in wedding
photography
At
Wedding Photography Tips we recommend a tripod which provides a solid platform
on to which you can firmly screw the camera and here at Wedding Photography Tips
we highly recommend buying one. Although all tripods have three legs, it is wrong
to assume that they are all identical. The main dilemma with tripods is that those
that are most stable and those that offer the best range of shooting positions —
are the largest and the most difficult to transport. It is often necessary to compromise
between rigidity, versatility, and portability. Budget is also a factor: a good
tripod can cost more than your camera.
Choosing a tripod
If you purchase a tripod and plan to use not just for weddings but other type of
photography then a heavy, stable tripod is capable of allowing exposures that are
minutes, or even hours, long, without any sign of camera shake, and so is invaluable
when slow shutter speeds, smaller apertures, or excellent picture quality are sought
after. One of the key factors to take into account when choosing a tripod is the
range of different heights at which the camera can be used. Extendable legs and
an elevating central column mean that the platform may be raised and lowered to
accommodate different subjects.
Soft-focus filters
If you’re
photographing wedding groups or taking portrait pictures of the
bride, groom or guests, soft-focus filters are perfect for adding a
touch of romance and atmosphere into your photographs. Soft-focus filters work by
blending the lightest parts of the picture (the highlights) into the shadows, so
the finest details are suppressed and a delicate glow is created by muting of colours.
At Wedding Photography Tips we recommend for the best results the subjects are either
located against a dark backdrop such as the bride in her white dress in the shadowy
church entrance or backlit. The level of diffusion can be controlled by adjusting
the lens aperture. A wider aperture will give sifter results.
Here is a top tip from Wedding Photography Tips. You can make your own soft-focus
filters using a range of household materials — try smearing a tiny amount of Petroleum
Jelly or spraying hair lacquer onto an old skylight filter. Alternatively, stretch
a piece of black stocking over your lens (a technique favoured by Hollywood movie-makers
in the 1940s), or breathe on the lens then wait for the ‘mist’ to clear a little
before tripping the shutter.