Charlotte Louise Beetham: Individual Practice

For my Individual practise i have decided to look at wedding photography.

My research

The evolution of photography

The evolution of wedding photography and its consequential style was closely related to the development of photographic technology. Since its inception back in the 19^th century, newlywed couples have been burning their blurry outlines onto bitumen paper, posing for long-exposure black and white film, and eventually being transformed into a digital series of zeros and ones.

Origins – 19th century

In fact, one of the first couples to pose for the camera were Queen Victoria and Prince Albert back in 1840. Couples were then inspired to pose before or after their wedding (out of formal wedding dress).

Late 19th century to the 1940s

It wasn’t until the late 19^th century that newlyweds started to hire photographers to take snaps of them in the wedding dress and suit. Thanks to the restrictions of the technology in those days, couples would usually have to be carted back to the photographer’s studios to make this happen. It was only as lighting and photographic equipment became more advanced and less weighty that photographers were able to shoot the wedding ‘live’ at the venue itself.

Multiple wedding photographs = wedding album

Come the late 19^th and early 20^th century, and technology allowed for a photographer to take more than one photo (exposure times and general ‘trickiness’ was reduced). This meant that more poses could be attempted, and images of the entire wedding party could be taken. Thus the wedding album was born.

Flash! (But not Gordon!) – Saviour of the (photographic) universe!

Thanks to the invention of the flashbulb and ‘film-reel’ technology, photographers could take a multitude of photographs with improved lighting and in mobile situations. This meant that photographers started capturing elements of the event and day overall – the approach that still persists today.

Moving on to modern times

Fast-forward to the later part of the 20^th century, and the popularity of wedding photography has steadily increased. More demand for professional photography meant only one thing; increased competition, together with the emergence of a divergent variety of styles of photography.

Just a few tips for photographing a wedding.
Taken from: http://digital-photography-school.com/wedding-photography-21-tips-for-for-amateur-wedding-photographers

Create a ‘Shot List’

One of the most helpful tips I’ve been given about Wedding Photography is to get the couple to think ahead about the shots that they’d like you to capture on the day and compile a list so that you can check them off. This is particularly helpful in the family shots. There’s nothing worse than getting the photos back and realizing you didn’t photograph the happy couple with grandma!

Scout the Location

Visit the locations of the different places that you’ll be shooting before the big day. While I’m sure most Pros don’t do this – I find it really helpful to know where we’re going, have an idea of a few positions for shots and to know how the light might come into play. On one or two weddings I even visited locations with the couples and took a few test shots (these made nice ‘engagement photos’).

In Wedding Photography Preparation is Key

So much can go wrong on the day – so you need to be well prepared. Have a backup plan (in case of bad weather), have batteries charged, memory cards blank, think about routes and time to get to places and get an itinerary of the full day so you know what’s happening next. If you can, attend the rehearsal of the ceremony where you’ll gather a lot of great information about possible positions to shoot from, the lighting, the order of the ceremony etc

Turn off the sound on your Camera

Beeps during speeches, the kiss and vows don’t add to the event. Switch off sound before hand and keep it off.

Shoot the small details

Photograph rings, backs of dresses, shoes, flowers, table settings, menus etc – these help give the end album an extra dimension. Flick through a wedding magazine in a news stand for a little inspiration.

Consider a Second Wedding Photographer

Having a second backup photographer can be a great strategy. It means less moving around during ceremony and speeches, allows for one to capture the formal shots and the other to get candid shots. It also takes a little pressure off you being ‘the one’ to have to get every shot!

Be Bold but Not Obtrusive

Timidity won’t get you ‘the shot’ – sometimes you need to be bold to capture a moment. However timing is everything and thinking ahead to get in the right position for key moments are important so as not to disrupt the event. In a ceremony I try to move around at least 4-5 times but try to time this to coincide with songs, sermons or longer readings. During the formal shots be bold, know what you want and ask for it from the couple and their party. You’re driving the show at this point of the day and need to keep things moving.

Shoot in RAW

I know that many readers feel that they don’t have the time for shooting in RAW (due to extra processing) but a wedding is one time that it can be particularly useful as it gives so much more flexibility to manipulate shots after taking them. Weddings can present photographers with tricky lighting which result in the need to manipulate exposure and white balance after the fact – RAW will help with this considerably.

Consider Your Backgrounds

One of the challenges of weddings is that there are often people going everywhere – including the backgrounds of your shots. Particularly with the formal shots scope out the area where they’ll be taken ahead of time looking for good backgrounds. Ideally you’ll be wanting uncluttered areas and shaded spots out of direct sunlight where there’s unlikely to be a wandering great aunt wander into the back of the shot.

Don’t Discard Your ‘Mistakes’

The temptation with digital is to check images as you go and to delete those that don’t work immediately. The problem with this is that you might just be getting rid of some of the more interesting and useable images. Keep in mind that images can be cropped or manipulated later to give you some more arty/abstract looking shots that can add real interest to the end album.

Change Your Perspective

Get a little creative with your shots. While the majority of the images in the end album will probably be fairly ‘normal’ or formal poses – make sure you mix things up a little by taking shots from down low, up high, at wide angles etc.

Expect the Unexpected

One more piece of advice that someone gave me on my own wedding day. ‘Things will Go Wrong – But They Can be the Best Parts of the Day’. In every wedding that I’ve participated in something tends to go wrong with the day. The best man can’t find the ring, the rain pours down just as the ceremony ends, the groom forgets to do up his fly, the flower girl decides to sit down in the middle of the aisle or the bride can’t remember her vows….

These moments can feel a little panicky at the time – but it’s these moments that can actually make a day and give the bride and groom memories. Attempt to capture them and you could end up with some fun images that sum up the day really well.

Have Fun

Weddings are about celebrating – they should be fun. The more fun you have as the photographer the more relaxed those you are photographing will be. Perhaps the best way to loosen people up is to smile as the photographer (warning: I always come home from photographing weddings with sore jaws and cheeks because of of my smiling strategy).

Here are some prices which i have found from local wedding photographers which will give me some idea of pricing.

My images

Andrew and Mel's big day.

Andrew putting on Mel's wedding ring while Pastor Clarke completes the vows.

Andrew and Mel kissing after they have just signed the wedding register and their parents having a good old chinwag behind them oblivious to the happy couple kissing infront of the congregation.

Andrew and Mel outside the church having yet another kiss. i showed this image to the couple and they asked if i could add a vignette on this image. I showed them the image with a black vignette and with the white and we all agreed the white looked better.

Andrew and Mel in the wedding car on the way to the reception.

Andrew and Mel in the gardens where the reception was. i took them aside on their own to get intimate and close photographs of the newly weds.

Mel sorting aout her hair just before the dinner. this kind of style is done a lot in wedding photography usually when the bride is getting ready but this is taken later in the day as the bride didn't want be present when she was getting ready because she wanted time with her mum.

This shot was just a mad idea which i had and its turned out great this is one of my favourite images of the day.

This is the favour boxes which everyone received. I removed the lid and angled it so you can see inside as well as the loverly flowers on top.

i thought it might be fun to get the bride and grooms name card together with one of the favour boxes.

this is the wedding cake surrounded by little cupcakes which the guests were given.

this is a close up of the cupcakes on the cupcake stand which i used a shallow depth of field.

this is one of the flower displays which was in the church and reception which the bride and groom arranged themselves.

Evaluation

While working on this brief i have found a lot of thing easy and a lot of things hard. The easy things were being comfortable with the bride and groom and all the guest which made my job really easy. The hard things was thinking of the images before i took them having idea's there on the spot i should have planned more and should have gone to the venue before the wedding day.

Things which i could improve on are being more planned for the shoot, and knowing my surrounding more.

Over all i have really enjoyed doing this brief and working with people instead of doing still life studio work and hope that when i leave i may have a job in this line of career.