Chapter 7: The Bride and Groom
Photographing the bride and the groom is your main focus as a wedding photographer, and while the ceremony and reception are important, the portraits are where you can really shine. The basics are pretty simple: Set up a time and place, pose the couple, and take the portraits. The key is that the time you spend getting the portraits needs to be quality time. You want to make sure the location the portraits are to be taken is near the ceremony or reception location so that you don’t waste the bride’s and groom’s or the wedding party’s time. And you need to have a portrait plan. Ideally, you want to plan when the portraits will take place — before the ceremony, before the reception, or a combination of both times. You will also want to pick a location with good light and a background that adds to the image rather than distracts from it. At times, the area can have another meaning, as is the case in Figure 7-1, where the Beverly Hills sign adds some fun to the photograph while at the same time leaving no doubt where the wedding took place.
7-1
ABOUT THIS PHOTO The Beverly Hills sign adds a location to the portrait of the bride and groom. Taken at ISO 200, f/3.5, 1/1000 second.
When to take the Portaits
To do the best job with the bride and groom ...
