An image can be interpreted differently by different people, and as a photographer, your role is to capture the genuineness of the moment. Being a wedding photographer, you narrate your couple's story through the photos, capturing emotions, their celebration, happiness, bond, and the love they share. Shooting candid moments and capturing true emotions on your couple's wedding day will help you create unique wedding photos. These images will be something that your couple would want to hold on to forever to celebrate their guests enjoying their wedding day.
Capturing Emotions in Wedding Photography
A series of events and traditions are scheduled one after another on the wedding day, and there's so much to capture. But what about the unique wedding photos - the moments not listed on a checklist but happen when no one is looking? How do you capture those moments and provide unique images to your clients? The key is capturing true emotions that exude from your couple on this day. Here are four secrets to capturing emotions from the bride and groom.
1. Anticipate The Moments
Image Credit: ShootDotEdit Customer @infiniteloopphoto
During the wedding day, there are many emotional and touching moments you can photograph. The best way for you to take the photos that feature these moments is to anticipate when they will happen. As the bride walks down the aisle, you know the groom might be nervous or have an excited expression on his face. There is also a chance that some family members and friends in the audience will be emotional.
Along with the couple, try and capture the guests as they enjoy the celebration. Portray the different wedding traditions in unique wedding photos ideas. The wedding processional, the first dance, and bridal bouquet toss are a few examples where you get an excellent opportunity to capture the genuine emotions of the couple and the guests. Look out for moments when your subject is the most unguarded and genuinely at the height of their emotions. Ensure you and your camera are ready to capture the perfect moment of these emotional wedding pictures.
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2. Stop Giving Direction
Image Credit: ShootDotEdit Customer @loversoflove
Although some of the images will need your expertise in posing, there are situations in which you do not need to give instructions to your couple. The couple's or bridesmaids first look is one such example of photos that evoke emotion. No one tells your subject how to feel or pose at that time. As a wedding photographer, your role is to capture emotions in your best shot.
There are other instances of capturing emotions in photography - the bride and groom portraits, when you can let them walk together without specific posing instructions. As they walk hand-in-hand, you will have a chance to capture their genuine feeling and expressions as they spend a quiet moment together. You can follow the couple with your camera, but remember to give your subject the space to be comfortable and get rid of the camera consciousness. Instruct them about all the activities and different poses you've planned and how you'll be executing them. Remember to keep your instructions minimal and let the couple be comfortable in front of the camera. And the most important part - Keep shooting.
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3. Change Your Perspective
Image Credit: ShootDotEdit Customer @apollofieldsCapturing emotion in photography is done best with candids. Since you are looking for candid moments, it can be helpful for you to move around a bit and change your shooting angle. Step back when the bride is getting ready and let her and the bridesmaids have a moment together. Connect with your subject, study the expressions of everyone in the room and capture their genuineness and excitement for the upcoming ceremony.
As you position the bride and groom for their portraits, let them have a moment while they are in that pose. Walk away from them, allowing them to have their space. See what is happening around you. From here, capture a large portion of the landscape and scene around them. When you change the perspective, you can acquire the bride and groom's many expressing emotions through photography, to create stunning images.
Suggested Read: The Art Of Candid Wedding Photography: Tips & Inspiration
4. Let Your Couples Have Fun
Image Credit: ShootDotEdit Customer @olsondesignphotography
Through the rushed and hectic wedding day, it is essential that you don’t forget to let your couple have fun! It is their wedding day, after all. There are plenty of chances for you to instruct different poses and create serious moments, but you also want to give them the freedom to enjoy. The more comfortable they are, the better their images will turn out. It can be stressful to manage the tight timeline but have a positive attitude all day. The more energy you can bring to the shoot, the more exciting it is for your couple (which also means better natural expressions).
Once the traditional images are taken, have the bride and groom pose in ways that will make them laugh. Try having the bride hold the groom and watch as they both burst into laughter at her attempt. Knowing the importance of emotions you can help them create unique images with specific instructions like letting them share jokes or make funny faces too. The key is to make them feel as comfortable as possible so they can give you real emotions.
Suggested Read: 3 Tricks To Make Your Couples Laugh
BONUS: Resort To Continuous Shooting
When you are constantly shooting, you get to document the intimate, sentimental moments, and even the ones you had not planned to photograph. Along with being a celebration for your couple, it is also emotional for those closest to them. Continuously shooting during the wedding day can significantly affect the type of images you create for the couples. You can capture all sorts of moments - funny, heartwarming, intimate, and other candid shots.
Tip: If you have a second shooter with you, split up and focus on different parts of the wedding. While you are busy taking pictures of your beautiful couple during the reception, you can engage your second shooter to photograph the dance floor, capturing the emotions of the guests.
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Capturing emotions in wedding photographs is more of an art where being a wedding photographer, you get to try emotional portrait photography of the various subjects in the picture. With the 2.6 million couples getting married yearly, many weddings are available for you to book and shoot. The above tips are ways that'll help you find your subjects, focus on their relationship and capture the genuineness to create stunning wedding pictures.
Further Read: Going Against The Grain In Wedding Photography
At ShootDotEdit, we are passionate about helping you hone your craft! And we help with that by taking editing off your plate with our professional photo editing services, giving you more time to learn new skills. To learn more about how we can help your wedding photography business, check out our pricing plans.
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