Tips and Techniques in the Art of Digital Wedding Photography

When people get nostalgic, they usually turn to photo albums and look at the pictures that help bring back memories of the friends, family and events from their past. These pictures are not simply pieces of colored paper with images, but they often trigger deep-seated, often pleasant emotions.

One of the most popular days to remember for many people is their wedding day.

For this reason, people hire professional photographers to capture the important moments of that special day. They want to make sure to catch all those special interactions to save for the future. However, these photographers may not always be able to advise their clients when to “strike a pose.” They are expected to wait patiently and be able to catch spontaneous, memorable portraits. Most professional wedding photographers bring along an assistant in order to maximize their opportunities for capturing as many natural yet beautiful wedding day shots possible.

What about those in attendance who would also love to get some memorable pictures of the wedding day?

Here are a few basic techniques and tips for anyone who wants to capture the best pictures without being a professional:

1. If you want to take a picture of the wedding couple or any intended target, make sure that the background is not crowded with people. If there is a glass or mirrored wall in the background try lowering your shot by kneeling or bending at your knees so that any flash you use won’t be captured and reflected back at the camera lens.

2. If there is an active background that makes it hard to focus on the couple, move in closer or zoom in. Try to capture them from the shoulders up.

3. If some of the guests are wearing eyeglasses, they should be advised to tilt or angle their heads down or lift their chins upward or their glasses might cause reflection glare.

4. If there is a couple or a group that you wish to include in the picture with the wedding couple , you should create a mental frame putting everyone inside that frame and then zoom in as close as possible to capture everyone inside your mental frame.

5. Try not to shoot a couple or any guest with bright lights or sun behind them or you may end up with only dark images. Under very controlled situations with appropriate flash this kind of picture can be taken but it usually requires a professional photographers level of understanding to do it well.

6. Keep your camera on hand as much as possible to make sure to get plenty of candid shots. They can be your best shots if they successfully capture intimate and memorable moments.

7. You should be alert at all times since you can seldom ask individuals to pose again for you. This includes keeping an eye on the wedding couple’s family and friends. They too can provide some great memory photos, as they express their joy. These kinds of photographs are often the ones that will be most appreciated by the wedding couple.

8. Your digital camera should be equipped with the appropriate memory card or sticks to ensure that you are able to capture every shot without running out of space too soon. Since you want clear, crisp pictures you will want to have the largest capacity memory card you can afford and that your camera can handle.

In other words, you really should have an extra memory card especially to get the most shots. The following suggestions should be considered before buying a memory card:

a. for 3 mega pixels photos – a 512 MB – 1 gigabyte memory card
b. for 5 mega pixels photos – 1-4 gigabyte memory card
c. for 10 mega pixels photos – 4-16 gigabyte memory card

9. This is an ocasion where you will want to use very high resolution settings in all your digital photographs. Since you’ll only have one chance to get pictures of that particular wedding you want to give each photo the best chance of being clear, crisp and great.

Always remember that the higher the resolution setting you use, the larger the size of prints you will be able to make.

10. Keep a copy of your best works and review what techniques you used to get them. You will surely increase your skills and ability level as you reuse these techniques in the future for other weddings or event photos.

You can do this by saving albums on your personal computer to free up the space in your memory card. You may also use other software to enhance the quality of the prints to be made.

Photography is truly a wonderful art. A wedding is a wonderful event. The union of these things will trigger emotions and memories far into the future and more so if the images are captured and preserved well.

As you progress in your wedding photo taking techniques you may find that you want to make it more than just a hobby. If so then all the time you put into it could pay off in a big way.