Wedding Question!

[DirtyHarry]

Yep, another wedding question for ye guys to sort out!! :)

Im doing the photography for a wedding this friday with a mate of mine.

Its the first time for both of us to do this. So my first question is, when you do the group pictures. What is the configuration? as in when do people go and what is the normal setup?

I know the bride and groom go in the middle, but the rest is lost on me! :?


cheers for any help!

Phil

[Harry Settle]

Holy Cow! Not much time to bone up. Looking at the wedding party, girls on the left, boys on the right. Try using height to sort them out, unless the b&g have a specific order they want people in. Normally try to get the best man next to the groom, and maid of honor next to the bride. Everyone else is however else it looks artisticly pleasing to you. Sometimes you can get away with boy girl, boy girl, for certain shots.

I'd be at the bookstore right now looking for books and magazines on weddings for inspiration if I were you.

[RichardtheSane]

I really hope you are not charging for this wedding... ;)

Main thing to remember, despite how organised you feel, the guests must feel you are confident and competant. If the B & G know it is your first wedding (and maybe you are doing it at a rediced price / for free) that is fine... they know what to expect... but the guests dont and they could be your future business!


(sorry I can't help much on the groups... I don do weddings!)

[Cordell]

Yep, another wedding question for ye guys to sort out!! :)

Im doing the photography for a wedding this friday with a mate of mine.

Its the first time for both of us to do this. So my first question is, when you do the group pictures. What is the configuration? as in when do people go and what is the normal setup?

I know the bride and groom go in the middle, but the rest is lost on me! :?


cheers for any help!

Phil

Here is an easy way to handle it. Have them setup the same way they did during the ceremony. That way you can tweak them for best results. A good idea is to take a small two step latter.

Good luck

Cordell

[Ken Fong]

I think as a far a placement, people tend to migrate to right spot on their own initially, and in most cases, it works out. You might want to arrange by heights so that you get a nice flow.
If you have two or more rows of people in the group shot, your challenge is to get all the faces on the same focus plane. In other words, if you are focusing on the folks in the center row, have the people in the back row lean their faces forward so that they are closer to the focus plane. As per the other suggestion to use a ladder, you can climb up and tilt the camera down so that all the faces in the back and center row are now on the same plane. If you are using a smaller aperture with a powerful flash, this becomes less of a problem, but be sure not to fire the flash's hot spot right into your group (diffuse it and fire it just over their heads).
Watch for the obvious things like blocked faces...people like to peek through other people thinking that their full face is going to be in the picture.
Take at least 2-3 formal shots per pose, then make them hold their position but lead them to believe the shot is over, crack a joke (e.g. 'who has an embarrassing story about the groom?') and then quickly take the shot again...those 'aftershots' tend to have the best natural expressions...less zombie-like than the formals.

[natalka]

One less "formal" formal is to put the b+g in the center, half the girls on each side, and the guys behind the girls. works well if you have some steps. also takes up a lot less space than putting all the girls on one side and the guys on the other, especially if you can't go back far or don't have a wide angle lens.

also, think in triangles. try to have people arranged so that your eye will go around to the faces/points of a triangle.

try to put "b" people in back. something i learned from a workshop with hanson fong. keep "a" people in front. "a" people will somewhat hide that shape/size of "b" people".

natalka

[Harry Settle]

"triangles" very pleasing to the eye.

[sGu]

when in group shots, if there is more than one row of people, make sure you use small apertures, just so everyone will be sharp in focus, other than that, trust your photography eye, also be creative without going too far. try carry 2 bodies with a wide angle and the other one with mid range telephoto attached (70-200mm), that way you won't miss much. a moment is not a pose, you'll lose the touch if you ask them to keep posing while you switch lens

[Conk]

Here is a tip.
If there are more photographers other than yourself, make sure you shoot in a group. You don't want people looking in different directions.