WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY STYLES EXPLAINED
Wedding Photography, the subject alone can confuse the ordinary bride. What style do I want? What style is my photographer? Unless you know the basic styles, you could be playing a game of Russian Roulette with your photographer.
Photographers, as they evolve, develop their own signature style. The style may fall exclusively into one category, or it could be a mixture of styles. A good metaphor for the styles would be music genres. Classic wedding photography could be likened to Bing Crosby, smooth and timeless. Creative styles are more akin to the likes of Katy Perry, modern and new with a touch of spunk.
So what are the different styles?
Let us start with the Classic Wedding Photography. When we think of Classic photography we think of the style of yesteryear. The style exudes well composed and perfectly posed shots. The photographer is very much the director and will arrange everyone in a way to get the best posed shot. They will generally work from a list of shots given to them by the bride and groom and adjust everything from background objects to their own lighting equipment to ensure a perfect setting each time. These staged shots look a lot like everyone else’s staged shots. The style was really developed in the era when people had to be still for a long time while their photograph was being taken, so the poses can seem a bit stiff.
Image Credit: Sachin Khona
The next style to look at is the Photo journalistic style. This style as the name suggests takes a Photo journalistic or Reportage approach. The key benefit of this style is that the images from the wedding are more candid. The style lends itself to documenting the day photographically. There is less emphasis on group photos, and the photographer tends to blend into the background. You can be sure you will have many surprises when you get the images from the photographer.
Image Credit: Paul Underhill
Creative Wedding Photography is another style, although this style is harder to define. It can also be labelled as Fine Art. This is the style high-fashion photographer’s use. The photographer will give direction to help you get the best photographs, and you’ll get pictures with an artistic flair. The photographer’s goal is to create images that are works of art. The creativity could be attributed to posing, or post production techniques. This style will need constant communication between the bridal party and photographer.
Image Credit: Rob Buttle
Some photographers may claim to be Natural Light photographers. This statement makes you aware that there will be little if any dependency on flash lighting, either on camera flash or off camera flash. This (in the authors opinion) severely limits the photographers potential of getting the shots.
Most wedding photographers will not fall solely into one category. They may grab bits from one style and use bits of another style. All photographers have their own personal style which is a combination of their unique skill sets, their learning and their creativity.
Check out a range of photographers and go with whoever suits you best both in personality and in style, and remember, photography is very subjective.
