When family or friends get married, it’s always fun to get some great photos of the wedding. Sure, most people have a professional photographer taking pictures, but sharing some of your candid photos can make a great after wedding gift.
Wedding Photography Tip #1 – Planning Ahead
If you’re not too concerned about what pictures you get, all you have to do is grab your camera and head to the wedding. But that can have disappointing results, like when you start to take a picture and find out your battery is dead or the memory media is full. Not good.
So remember, besides your camera take extra batteries and memory media! If you’re hoping for some really great shots and really into it, take a tripod too.
Wedding Photography Tip #2 – One Of The Basic Digital Photography Tips
This may seem so simple and so basic, it doesn’t need to be said. I’m going to say it anyway!
It’s just this… turn the sound off on your camera before you go to the wedding. If you don’t know how to do that, look it up in your camera’s manual. If that seems too much trouble, just go through the setting screens looking for the sound, and TURN IT OFF. Nobody wants to hear the little beeps during the ceremony!
Wedding Photography Tip #3 – Expand Your Focus
I’m not talking about the focus of your digital camera here, I’m talking about YOUR focus. The professional wedding photographer will be focusing on the bride and groom, and while it’s nice for you to get some shots of them also, think about the other people attending the wedding. Pictures of family and friends watching the ceremony and during the reception are usually quite appreciated by the bride and groom.
After all, the bride and groom are so focused on all the particulars of the ceremony itself, they aren’t going to see everything going on at the wedding and reception. Pictures of people chatting, children playing, folks going through the reception line…. just look for interesting groups of people and take some pictures.
Wedding Photography Tip #4 – Continuous Shooting Mode
If you’ve never used your camera’s continuous shooting mode, take some practice shots at home. After all, one of the beauties of easy digital photography it that it’s easy to take a lot of pictures and just as easy to delete them!
Test it out, and when you’re at the wedding, give continuous shooting mode a try. You’ll be surprised how often it’s the 2nd or 3rd picture after the intended shot that is actually a winner!
Wedding Photography Tip #5 – Wait To Delete
Let’s face it, even with a 3-inch LCD display screen, it’s still hard to tell sometimes if a picture is worth saving. Take plenty of memory cards and unless it’s a totally obvious “so-fuzzy-can’t-tell-what-it-is” sort of picture, wait until you get home to delete unwanted shots. You never know what gem might be hiding in one of those pictures!
Sometimes you can crop a picture to show just one good section. Sometimes the picture is just a little different from other wedding shots and worth saving just for that reason. Or maybe the picture just needs a little tweaking using a software program.
So wait until you get home to delete any pictures, so you can check them out on the bigger screen of your computer first.
The Wedding Photography Tips In A Short List
- Plan ahead and remember charged batteries and plenty of memory cards.
- Turn the sound off on your camera.
- Look for candid shots of other people at the wedding besides the bride and groom.
- Use the continuous shooting mode on your camera.
- Don’t delete any pictures until you get home.
Have fun at the wedding, and don’t forget to give the bride and groom copies of some of your great pictures! They’ll be thrilled!
