Are you a beginner who’s looking for comprehensive wedding photography tips? Books by are useless and personal consultations will cost you more than $400 per day?
Look though these short but useful tips for wedding photography to become a top wedding shooter in your area.
How to Take Wedding Photos: 100+ Wedding Photo Tips
The reason why photographing a wedding may be difficult is because it combines all genres into one. Prepare to take portraits, still life, action, sometimes travel and landscape, or even crazy underwater images. These tips will help you handle everything and produce stunning results.
1. Put Together a Shot List
Every photographer has a set of successful wedding photography poses, but always ask your clients if they have their own ideas on how they would like to be photographed.
If the couple wants to have individual pictures with some guests, you must know about it and realize how to organize everything in the best way possible. Think about all details worthy of being captured and write your Wedding Roundup Photos down.
2. Find a Wedding Family Photo Coordinator
The most stressful section of the photoshoot is the family photo. People are running around, you are not acquainted with anyone, visitors are in a ‘festive spirit’ often encouraged by a few drinks, for an outsider, it looks like a chaotic mess.
Ask the couple to name a responsible person from each side who will be helping you organize the merry crowd for a pleasant shot. This works great because the couple can enjoy their celebration and the assigned person is more familiar with the rest of the invited.
3. Scout the Location Beforehand
If it isn’t familiar to you, go there earlier and try to plan where the light and background will benefit the dress, rings, newlyweds separately, and with their family members.
Perfect if you do your investigation a few days prior to the event, with a calm mind and plenty of time. Check out these 8 best places for a destination wedding.
4. Know Your Gear Inside Out
Canon 5D Mark III + Speedlite Flash + Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 + Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 + Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 + Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 + Battery Charger + Memory Card Folder + Memory Cards
Before the event check wedding photography camera settings, study and test available modes. Get sure that all options and functions work properly.
- Check out what wedding photography gear you should have at the beginning.
5. Always Have a Back-Up Camera
You can purchase a cheaper camera model or rent the camera body if buying new is too expensive. It may feel like you’re literally chopping off a large part of your profit for no reason until one day this actually saves you.
- Check out what is the best camera for wedding photography.
6. Change Lenses While Wedding Shooting
The biggest section in any wedding photography guide is on natural and real emotional shots. Noticing that the newlyweds look stiff and uncomfortable in front of the camera, switch to a longer lens (like 200mm) to move a bit further away.
Intimidated in your company, they will feel immediate relief and behave naturally. Cropping the extra is nothing compared to working around fake smiles.
- Read more about the best lenses for wedding photography .
7. Hire an Assistant
A great difference between professional and amateur wedding photography is the ability of the former to afford paying an assistant to arrange the lights, perform tests, or even shoot anything you are missing behind your back.
Collaborate with a colleague so that he/she helps with your clients and you do the same with his/hers; a great way to share the experience.
8. Get to Know the Couple
The key to the best weddings photo shoots is to get acquainted with the future newlyweds. Work out some questions for them, the answers may inspire you for certain shots or a photo-story.
9. Set Expectations
One of the crucial wedding photography tips is to figure out precisely what your clients want. Show them examples of your portfolio, pinpoint which specific moments are to be covered fully, the picture quantity they expect, how the photos should be delivered (printed or not). Take time to settle all technical aspects and the total price.
10. Prepare Documents
Remember that you need a proper wedding photography contract. It must specify what photography for weddings services are included, what is expected from both parties, fees, contacts and payment details. In case any serious disputes arise, everything can be settled with the lawyer’s assistance.
- Set right wedding photography prices before offering services.
11. Know the Wedding Ceremony Program
Investigate how to photograph a wedding of a different culture, to make sure you don’t miss important symbols and rituals that differ from what you’re used to. Specify which wedding type you’re hired for and ask to be forwarded the celebration plan where you highlight the main events and their timing to plan your work accordingly.
12. Schedule the Day
Ask the couple about the most significant and sweet moments at their wedding, which mustn’t be missed. They would probably like to have the picture of the first dance or the bouquet toss and you have to be ready to capture this moment.
- Download one of these FREE Wedding Photography Timeline Templates.
13. Shoot Engagement Session
Not many couples actually request this service, so encourage them. It does wonders not only helping you find ways how to shoot a wedding that is taking place, but also introducing the couple to the particularities of such shootings.
Getting a chance to understand each other beforehand results in the wedding day going smoother in terms of photography.
- Read these engagement photography tips.
14. Turn OFF the Sound on Your Camera
The smallest but most relevant tip is to turn off any sounds because all those beeps during the vow and first kiss steal from the moment.
15. Use a Tripod
Numerous wedding photography tips and tricks involve a tripod. With it, you’re free to shape the group shot with your own hands, tinker with lighting and accessories. Plus, in different shooting conditions, you will be grateful for extra stability that brings out finer details.
- Check out the best tripods for DSLR cameras.
16. Capture the Details
Imprint the little elements of the festivity that the bridal couple spent their time arranging. Certainly, wedding rings photographs deserve separate attention, but also take close-ups of corsages, flowers, shoes, jewelry, and special little details that are unique in the ceremony.
17. Select Comfy Clothing
Don’t know what should a photographer wear to a wedding? You have to choose your outfit in accordance with the style of the wedding.
Actually, there is no perfect attire for such an event. You just have to choose something neat and comfortable.
Give preference to the neutral colors and loose fit. Usually, a photographer has to work many hours from early morning till sunset, so mind to have some warm clothes.
18. Capture the Firsts
The sole task of wedding day photography is to save forever those delicate moments like the first kiss, dance, look, etc. The problem is that these moments are very fleeting and unless you’re fully alert and ready they could pass uncaptured.
Professionals always discuss the itinerary with the couple singling out the important moment and when they take place.
- Find more touching first look wedding photos.
19. Shoot the Reaction
See someone in the crowd reacting expressively to the tender rituals of the ceremony? Such warm emotions are a treasure for the newlyweds, too.
Get the assistant’s lens focused on the viewers and capture such reactions while you’re busy with the couple.
20. Know the Guests
A big wedding would have all sorts of people attending it, from close relatives to important colleagues or friendly neighbors. Go over the names of those invited, mark the people relevant to the newlyweds, learn their names to establish contact and take nice portraits.
21. Be Bold but Not Obtrusive
Being too timid will deprive you of interesting opportunities and shots so be determined but also plan ahead. Predict the right spot when important rituals are carried out so that you don’t miss them and remain invisible for the guests.
For me, the best way to take wedding photos is to change 4-5 positions during the ceremony and use moments like songs or readings for relocation.
22. Set Proper Lighting
Practice indoor wedding photography without flash because in certain churches it is banned to use it. When it is allowed, think of how the light can help you.
Mind that bouncing the flash off the colored church interior will tint the image, so in many cases, a flash diffuser would work better.
23. Shoot in RAW
Arranging the wedding photography shooting, take into account the differences between GPEG and PNG. The RAW format gives more discretion for the photo editing, especially as you cannot change the lighting at the wedding. GPEG is better for fast photographing. I recommend the last format for a wedding photoshoot.
- Read more about the differences between JPEG and PNG.
24. Use a Simple Background
Remember, you have to concentrate on the couple and choose something rather plain to get a cool shot. Very colorful backdrops will distract the attention and you’ll have to spend lots of time on editing.
- Check out these romantic wedding photography backdrops.
25. Try to Get an Accurate Exposure
A large discussion is always revolving around wedding photography exposure tips because with as much white in the photo as the bride’s dress makes things get harder.
If you choose the middle exposure value, the photo could look too dark, so that can be corrected by a minor positive compensation.
It really has to be minor, though, because highlights are harder to restore than shadows when you start editing the image. My way is to peek at the screen to see how the exposure I’m setting looks like.
26. Experiment with the Shooting Angle
A light tilt can add dynamics to an image. There is no rule to photograph strictly horizontally or vertically. Experiment, turn horizontal and vertical lines into diagonal ones, thereby adding expressiveness to your pictures. Keep within limits, just a couple of weird-angled shots are enough.