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Creative wedding photography tips:

• Aim for unstaged, natural shots with a photojournalist.
• Involve your guests with a photo booth or diary room.
• Ask your photographer about special techniques such as cross-processing.

Article Tags:  creative wedding photography, candid wedding photography

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Creative wedding photography

Beth Anderson

23 March 2011

Candid and creative wedding photography ideas
These days, many couples looking for creative wedding photography seek the services of a photojournalist to capture the raw moments and emotions of their day. Candid wedding photography is undertaken by a breed of photographer that boasts a spontaneous and creative wedding photography style. They mingle amongst the crowd, looking for natural shots — a joyful tear during the ceremony or raucous laughter during speeches. To ensure successful candid wedding photography, you should advise guests in advance to avoid posed, staged shots. Candid wedding photography requires the photographer to be seen and not heard, as they strive to capture creative wedding photography that will reflect the natural and unique episodes of the celebrations.

Creative wedding photography — think outside the box
We’ve all seen the stiff, posed family portraits at weddings, with bridal party and parents lined up in a row. Creative wedding photography, on the other hand, is all about injecting energy into these shots with movement; getting the party to walk towards them or interact. Not only will this make for a more exciting image, it will also shake up facial expressions and movement.

Moving into even more relaxed territory, casual shots are a prominent feature of creative wedding photography. These days you’re more likely to see bridal parties sipping champagne, sitting in a café window chatting over a latte or the bride with her feet up after the ceremony than staged shots on the pier or in front of the church. And sometimes it’s the images of the journey rather than the destination that produce the most effective and creative wedding photography. Couples walking down the street (or even waiting at a tram stop) offer a quirky and creative wedding photography device.

Creative wedding photography techniques
Who says your wedding album needs to go by the book? There are a host of technical devices that promote creative wedding photography and they are growing in popularity among wedding photographers. For example, cross-processing is used to enhance — and even alter — the colour of images. Particularly suited to outdoor shots, it will heighten the elements — perhaps even turning the blue sky purple!

Some photographers are also using grainy film to create artistic, old-world and creative wedding photography. This works particularly well with black-and-white film, where you can literally see the grains in each shot.

For something else altogether, infrared film produces ethereal results by spreading a white glow over certain parts of a photo. Again, this style of creative wedding photography is best suited to an outdoor setting, where you can act out a particularly romantic scene — perhaps even disappearing into the sunset.

Alternative creative wedding photography options
Couples are renting photo booths to double as a creative wedding photography service and entertainment. Guests can either film a message — along the grain of the Big Brother diary room — or pose for shots in a DIY studio. This is a fun and creative wedding photography option for guests, particularly if you have a printer on-hand so they can take the images home.

If your photographer is staying on for part of the reception, they could set up their own booth in a section of the venue. Guests can then make visits during the night and sit for creative wedding photography portraits. This is particularly fun when props are on-hand to enliven the setting. Couples can arrange themed items to ensure creative wedding photography: wooden tennis racquets and croquet mallets for a garden party, for example, or feather boas and pipes for an evening affair.

Editing creative wedding photography
Thanks to ever-improving technology, photographers can now bring their laptop or iPad to weddings, allowing couples to view their creative wedding photography efforts immediately. Some are even taking this a step further and running a slideshow of images from the ceremony and beginning of the reception throughout the celebrations. This gives guests a never-ending source of conversation, as they analyse not only the gorgeous married couple but also their own antics.

Creative wedding photography presentation ideas
Once the big day is done, you’ll have beautiful images to look back on for a lifetime. There are many emerging creative wedding photography trends in photo presentation that move away from the traditional album. Many photographers will compile a coffee table book or magazine-style album, providing you with a polished and professional keepsake from your day.