Dorr - The beautiful wedding: photography techniques for capturing natural and authentic moments

Copyright 2014 by Tracy Dorr.

All rights reserved.

All photographs by the author unless otherwise noted.

Published by:

Amherst Media, Inc.

P.O. Box 586

Buffalo, N.Y. 14226

Fax: 716-874-4508

www.AmherstMedia.com

Publisher: Craig Alesse

Senior Editor/Production Manager: Michelle Perkins

Associate Editor: Barbara A. Lynch-Johnt

Editorial Assistance from: Carey A. Miller, Sally Jarzab, John S. Loder

Associate Publisher: Kate Neaverth

Business Manager: Adam Richards

Warehouse and Fulfillment Manager: Roger Singo

ISBN-13: 978-1-60895-716-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013952532

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No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded or otherwise, without prior written consent from the publisher.

Notice of Disclaimer: The information contained in this book is based on the authors experience and opinions. The author and publisher will not be held liable for the use or misuse of the information in this book.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Equipment: Canon EOS-1D Mark III with EF 70200mm f/2.8L USM lens. Exposure: f/3.5 at second and ISO 200. Focal length: 110mm (top image) and 120mm (bottom image).

Outstanding candid wedding photography is not a casual way of documenting the wedding. It is a highly skilled, painstaking way of approaching the event, where you will search for intimate, natural, and honest moments to capture. To achieve excellence, you will need to develop a discerning mind-set that allows you to capture images that have an intangible X-factor, which only comes from pictures that have elements working together in harmony.

The desires of the modern client are quickly evolving. To keep up, we photographers must flex our creativity and skill, pushing ourselves to meet a challenging set of higher standards. Photojournalism, a relaxed posing approach, and artistic editing are regularly requested by brides and grooms. They now want both the traditional and nontraditional merged together into a unique product for their important day.

If you want to increase your image sales, you need to adapt to the changing standards and learn to capture moments of real emotional resonanceto refocus your intent on capturing moments of interplay between people. We will be looking for moments that demonstrate the height of emotion and tell stories in innovative and touching ways. You are trying to create a piece of art that will last a lifetime for your client. Through practice, you will learn to create beautiful images that look polished enough to have been posed. Essentially, we have to retrain ourselves to instantly capture fleeting, instantaneous moments as they occur. Then, in postproduction, we must learn to apply any enhancements needed to make the images stand out. By learning to capture a good quantity of quality images and style them in a unique and personalized manner, we can document beautiful and elusive moments for our clients and raise our profit margin as we do it. This is a personal challenge that never ends.

Equipment: Canon EOS-1D Mark III with EF 70200mm f/2.8L USM lens. Exposure: f/4 at second and ISO 200. Focal length: 200mm.

A wedding day is filled with important interactions, expressions, and emotions. Capturing the moments that matter and producing saleable, heirloom-quality images is a skill that makes you more of a commodity. If you are consistent in providing a personalized and high-quality product, your pricing can reflect that. These skills are best accomplished when you pair intuition with preparation and experience. You will learn what equipment might assist you, where to stand, and precisely when to push the shutter button. This comes from practice.

Candid photography is highly personal, in that you must release all of your control over the situation. The portraits you capture are instantaneous and emotionally charged, so you must never force or disrupt them. To document them honestly, you must work unobtrusively. Only when the subject is oblivious to your presence will you achieve genuine, natural expression. Push yourself to practice a total lack of interference while still creating a refined and creative composition. Avoid having anyone change their actions on your request. You want the portraits to be natural and documentary.