Every wedding album needs to be filled with memorable, irreplaceable photos that will enable you to revisit all of the key moments of the special day and relive the experience. Here, we explore the top 10 shots that every wedding photography should take.
Photos You Must Not Forget as a Professional Wedding Photographer
1. The Venue – Outdoors
Capture the beauty of the venue from its exterior and take shots from different angles. If it is a particularly historic building, try to photograph some of its key architectural features and consider the weather. If it is a sunny day with deep blue sky, keep the colour in the photo; if it is cloudy and wet, black and white may provide a more intriguing effect.
2. The Venue– Indoors
If it is possible, take photos of the venue before everyone arrives or consider visiting it on a day before the wedding day. Photograph the best aspects of the building and some of its most elaborate features (such as a painted ceiling or stained glass windows).
3. The Kiss
After the couple of have expressed their vows, the wedding ceremony is officially concluded and the husband and bride are now a married couple. Be sure to have your camera customised to the correct settings for this situation. If the venue is dark, consider using a higher ISO or change the shutter speed or exposure setting; failing to capture this scene correctly could be unforgivable and will be difficult to improvise on.
4. The Guests
The guests are the life and soul of a wedding and should not be neglected. Try to capture as many people and focus on photographing them spontaneously so that they do not notice you. Often, one of the best ways to photograph a large group of people is to find a discrete location (such as the corner of a room or at an elevated position, if possible).
5. The Wedding Cake
Clearly, no wedding album would be complete without some fabulous photos of the wedding cake. But merely taking photos of the cake itself is not enough; you should also remember to photograph the cutting of the cake as this also symbolises an important stage of the event.
6. The Wedding Car
Photograph the married couple as they walk towards their wedding car and try to capture their mood as they wave goodbye to their guests. Shoot some photos of the vehicle during daylight and don’t forget to photograph other features such as the flowers or the ‘just married’ sign on the back of the car.
7. The Parents of the Couple
It would be careless not to include plenty of photos of the bride and groom’s parents in a wedding album; make sure you capture as many images as possible in different settings and use a wide variety of combinations (i.e. photograph the bride’s parents, the bride’s parents with the groom’s parents, the groom’s parents with the bride etc.).
8. The Dress
Make time to photograph the dress draped or hanging before the wedding itself. Take some close up shots to include any specific details of the dress as well.
9. Food Photos
Don’t forget to include photos of the rest of the food and try to get a shot of the buffet before everyone begins eating.
10. Photograph Each Table
One of the best ways to make sure you get a photo of every guest at the wedding is to go around each table at the reception; you may need to do this more than once to ensure that everyone is included in the wedding album.
Don’t Forget – This is Just a Small Selection of Must-Have Photos for Your Wedding Shoot
From the exchange of rings to the giving away of the bouquet, there are also many more situations that you will need to capture in your wedding album. The solution to remembering them: create a list, show it to your client and ask them to add anything that you might have missed. This is the best way to prevent your client from being disappointed with your photos after they’ve been processed.
