Your Wedding Photography Guide
Wedding photography is done in two ways today: there's the traditional way and then there's the photojournalistic approach. Traditional wedding photography deals with classic poses, and often relies on the photographer to give out directions on how the bride and groom should pose in the pictures.
The photojournalistic approach is a freer and a more candid way of taking pictures, and there is less photographer influence. The photographer usually stays in the background as he snaps pictures, without anyone knowing that he is doing so. This is good is your photographer has good timing and knows how to bring out the best angle in people's faces.
A third approach that is slowly gaining ground in the world of wedding photography is the fashion-based wedding photography. The photographer takes inspiration from the fashion poses found in style magazine like Vogue or Vanity Fair, and mixes these with candid shots taken at the wedding.
Often some of these pictures are taken at the studio where the photographer can have greater control over the light and whole mood of the photograph, and some will opt to have this done a few days before the actual wedding.
The wedding photographer usually categorizes his work according to packages. A wedding studio or professional photographer may offer a list of packages for the bride and groom to choose from, and the price depends on the contents of the package.
The usual package consists of a formal picture -taking session in the studio, an out-door photography session, indoor session, usually done at home or in church prior to and after the wedding, posed and candid photos of the couple taken during the wedding, digital prints and slide shows, and photo albums.
Today's modern wedding photographers now allow sales of the wedding pictures online. This allows family members or friends to buy their own photographs of the wedding. The photos may be sold in the photographer's own site, or by online vendors who get a commission or charge a fee for every purchase. Other photographers may now also provide a fee for including high resolution images for a fee, and this gives the client limited rights to print their own pictures.
In other cases the photographer may include all digital prints as part of the package, and release all rights to the pictures as soon as the job is done. This leaves the client free to do whatever they want with the images. However, packages like these are also more expensive.
The price also will vary according to the number of shots provided. With more and more photographers using digital cameras, the unlimited-shot option is the best option, although it can get pricier than the other packages.
Although you need to stay inside a reasonable budget, you should not scrimp on the wedding photos. These are the photographs that you will remember your wedding by, and they should be the best. After all, you only get to pose for wedding pictures once.