Wedding Photography Tips for Beginners – Candid Guest Shots
For a bride and groom, their wedding day is a unique event to be remembered for a lifetime. Emotions run wild and there is a feeling that anything is possible on a wedding day. The job of a photographer is to capture these feelings. Moreover, your photos need to give the impression that everyone at the wedding feels this way, not just the bride and groom. This is why candid photos of the guests are just as important as shots of a nervous groom or a crying father.
Guest candid shots help convey the uniqueness of this day to the bride and groom. It could be a photo of an uncle teary eyed, or the shy, college roommate tearing it up on the dance floor that confirms their feelings that everything seemed different on their wedding day.
Be aware of everything that is going on around you is the best advice I can give for photographing great candid shots of the guests. Being aware will help you to be able to expect what is going to happen before it happens. This is the key to taking candids.
An example of knowing what to expect during the ceremony: when the priest is talking to the bride and groom. You should get your normal couple shots of the bridal couple at this point. Great. But for the next few minutes you know that the priest will keep talking, and the bride and groom are pretty much going to look the same. This is the time to turn around and see what the guests are doing.
You need to keep in mind though that these guest shots need to be candid. My method for capturing a candid shot at this point in the service is by turning around just looking around casually at what the guests are doing. I do this in a casual way so that none of the guests know that I am choosing them for a photo opp. As I am facing forward I am mentally composing the image, and at the same time adjusting the settings on my camera for the shot. I then quickly turn around and shoot before anyone has anytime to realize what I am doing.
Another example of knowing what is going to happen before it happens is when the music starts and people are still too shy to get on the dance floor. But you the photographer, because you have this sixth sense for these things, know that all the little kids at the wedding are going to go play on the dance floor. Start setting your camera to a high speed setting and get out there. And remember that kids are great subjects for candids. Know where they are during the wedding, and I can promise you some great candids.
Try these tips at your next wedding. Thanks for reading!
Kevin Heslin is one of the leading Wedding and Commercial Photographers in Costa Rica. Besides commercial and wedding photography, Kevin also specializes in Travel and Cultural Portraits. To see more photo tips click on his blog Costa Rica Photographer Or to see photos of his weddings in Costa Rica, or travel and cultural photography in Central America check out his website Costa Rica Photography. This article, Wedding Photography Tips for Beginners – Candid Guest Shots is released under a creative commons attribution license.

June 18, 2011 | Posted by Kevin Heslin
Categories:
Tags:
Recent Comments