Digital Wedding Photography: Capturing Beautiful Memories

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Part II ✦ Shooting Weddings on Location

Figure 10-5: Children are more interested in what you’re doing than in what the bride is doing.

17mm, f4, 1/180th, 400 ISO

Catching Candid Moments

How do photographers manage to capture incredible storytelling candid images of such fleeting

moments? Is it luck? I don’t think so. Of course there is a small amount of luck to it simply because the

action is often happening quickly; however, luck alone wouldn’t explain why the best photographers tend

to capture these moments on a fairly consistent basis.

Character studies

One of the tricks to predicting a candid moment is that you have to study the personalities of the individ-

uals at the wedding and learn which ones are most likely to cause interesting events to happen. For

example, during the early parts of the day, in the dressing rooms and around the family, you can start to

notice and jot down in your mind little notes about the different characters involved in the day. Make lit-

tle notes about which ones are laughers, which ones are the cryers, which ones are the energetic

dancers, and which ones are just plain wild. Watch these people like a hawk and if one of them heads

toward the bride or groom, get ready.

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Chapter 10 ✦ Capturing Candid Moments

Face the ...