Help Your Photographer Get Better Pictures!

by Steve Hoffmann
hoffmannphotographer.com

Wherever you get ready, try to get the biggest room possible.

Photographers love shooting with natural light and they love freedom to get different angles. When you choose the room that you are getting ready in (make-up/hair/putting the dress on) be sure there is lots of space. Getting ready rooms tend to get very cluttered with lots of bags, purses, flowers and everything else that anyone brings on the wedding day. All of those things tend to be very distracting in a photograph. Also, be sure there is lots of natural window light coming into the room. This is going to be great for hair/make-up and also for that moment when the dress goes on. You may need to clear a decent size area by the sliding glass door for these times.

Leave as much time as possible for all the photographs.

This is incredibly important and is explained in detail in another article here.

Plan your family groupings ahead of time.

Photographers prefer to spend more time taking pictures of the bride/groom than they do taking family portraits. A lot of time is lost when the family portrait time is disorganized and family members are scattered. The groupings for family pictures should be written down ahead of time and one of the wedding party (someone who knows both sides of the family) should be in charge of this time. It generally does not help to give the photographer a list of the desired family photos because they usually are not familiar with anyone at the event.

Make sure your photographer gets a dinner!

A full photographer is a happy photographer – and that will mean better pictures for everyone! It still surprises me how regularly I will photograph a wedding (9-11 hours of labor) and have to go search for food. This is usually not the fault of the bride/groom, but is a problem with venues not wanting to dish out extra meals. Vendors should receive their meals at the beginning of dinnertime to ensure that all events at the reception will be covered properly.

Limit the fancy DJ lighting and redirect the $$$ to mood lighting.

DJ’s like to sell extra lighting – lasers, strobe bulbs and spotlights of every possible color. These may look great on the dance floor and in a club, but they are a nightmare for still photography. What happens is that the images of everyone dancing will have different color spots and lines on them. NOT good. The money that you might spend on DJ lighting is much better spent on uplights for the reception area, twinkle lights or tea lights for all the tables. These lighting choices will add lots of desirable warmth to your pictures.

Slow Down!

The lighting of the unity candle, the sand ceremony, the putting on of rings, bouquet toss and garter toss – those are great times to slow down for your photographer! Make sure what you are doing is completely visible and that you do it in a way that looks great for pictures.