So, Bobby, at what point in time did it finally hit you

[form]

And how did it happen? I am still wading through my own pool of ignorance when it comes to really posing people and imagining up compositions. How does it work, and why? I keep thinking there's a general formula to follow that leads to good photos each time, and once you understand that formula you can duplicate that level of quality consistently with each shot you imagine. I want to reach that level someday.

[shannyD]

me too.. but i have only helped with three weddings. and dont know anything.. so im always reading the wedding forum..all of you guys do amazing work..im actually shocked that i see you out here asking questions, when your work is sooooooooooo STUNNING!

shan

[Bobster]

imagination, never stop learning

[bnlearle]

I THINK this is directed at me? I don't want to sound stupid just in case there's another Bobby :lol:

Are you referring to couple shots, specifically? Or just shooting as a whole? If the latter, I don't know how to answer that one - that's a handful :) I'll go for the first...

Couple shots were the HARDEST thing for me to get comfortable with. Some photographers LOVED that part of the day from their first wedding on - not me! I hated it!!! I think I hated it for the same reasons that many people do. I had the "what do I tell them to do?!?!" question racking my brain. All the candids/documentary photos were always easy for me - but the formals... man, they scared me to death!

Honestly, it just came with time. I wish there was a formula of how it happened - but one day, it just sort of clicked a little. Enough to where I didn't fear the couple session. Then the next wedding it clicked a little more, and so on to where I LOVE the formals now!

Form, you've got real talent and just need to a) keep plugging away and b) stop insisting that there are so many people out there better than you :p If you do that, I think you'll figure out how you do it soon enough.

Let me know if that helps at all - I might have been nowhere near where you wanted me to be with my answer ;)

Bobby

[Bobster]

I THINK this is directed at me? I don't want to sound stupid just in case there's another Bobby :lol:
some people call me Bobby :p ;)

[form]

It was directed at bobby earle. It hasn't clicked for me; I don't know when that's going to happen and so far I can't see it.

[Bobster]

*oooh handbag*

[rammy]

Good question form.

Bobby, and other wedding togs, how much directing do you do in the B&G shots? Are you constantly talking/directing them?

I'm shooting my sisters wedding this Friday and I need to get her to smile and look romantic in the B&G shots. Is there a "whisper sweet nothings" kind of thing you do to get them to look romantic or is it that they are that type of couple that just seem to look so good on film.

[bnlearle]

I can only speak for myself, but I don't do a ton of directing. I do some - just as much as I have to, you know? I know some photographers have tricks - like little kissing games, and stuff. I don't really have anything like that (nothing against it - just don't happen to have that up my own sleeve).

For me, the couple session was the last thing I became comfortable/confident in. Now it's my favorite part!

Bobby

[SoccerRef]

I'll toss my $0.02 into the pot... Mind you, I shoot my fifth wedding next Friday, so my experience is limited, but here it goes.

I personally find the Engagement shoot INVALUABLE. I believe I will always insist on it as part of a wedding package. During that shoot I get to know the couple. I get to know what they are like and I get a feel for how comfortable they are with eachother. They also become more comfortable with me.

I have started with each couple by saying, "I will shoot the two of you together. If you want intimate shots, you have to be intimate. That is something I can not fake, or add with Photoshop." I had one couple who weren't comfortable doing much more than holding hands with my camera clicking away, and I had another couple who couldn't wait to taste each other's tonsils!

Both couples got shots of them together, interacting in ways that they were comfortable. They both LOVED the shots I got. I preferred one set over the other, but the best lesson I have learned is that my preference doesn't really matter. Their preference is what is important.

On wedding day, I have always started with the big group shots and worked my way down to just the wedding couple. Once the bridesmaids and groomsmen have left and it's just the two of them, me and possibly my assistant, I ask them to relax, breathe deep, look at each other, and don't think about anyone but themselves for the next 15 minutes.

I then tell them to give me a minute to prepare, and I go wipe off a lens or something to give them and myself a minute to refocus. I usually use an excuse of checking a setting on my equipment, but in reality, that minute is as much for them as it is for me.

I personally get the best photos when I give the subject(s) an idea of what I want to capture, and then allow them to execute my idea in a manner with which they are comfortable. When I try to impose my vision on them, the photos wind up awkward.

Take it or leave it, it's what has worked for me. And as I said, I'm a newbie to the wedding scene, everything I just mentioned I learned from someone else. I applied what I learned, and I have learned from the results. I try something new at every event I do (next Friday it will be off camera flash), but I will also go with the things that I know work, just in case my new experiments don't work out as I expect them to.

EDIT: I just took a look at your site. Your photos are beautiful. Trust yourself, your instincts are good.

[gmacmt]

I might be new to the wedding photo scene, but not to photography. I don't know a whole lot about the wedding stuff, but I have gotten bored with some other genres of photography before. Here is what I would recommend...

Look outside of wedding photography, as it is easy to get tunnel vision. Check out sights like magnum or VU photo agency. But dont limit yourself to one style, look at studio too. The more you look at straight wedding photography, the more your work will be an imitation of what you see. While that can be good when you are starting out (it has been for me) but it makes you stagnant. Looking through your website, it looks like you are comfortable doing the wedding photo thing. You have all the bread and butter shots dialed, but it is time to break out of that. Keep making those shots, but start making your own.

Go shoot a photo essay. Go tell a story. Go take pictures of people that dont like eachother, or are not wearing their nicest shirt. Go take photos without people in them. It will all make you a better photographer.

Maybe take a few weeks off of the wedding section of the forum, and find some other genre. Shoot it and get comfortable with it. Then try something else.

Lastly, what I have noticed is that wedding photography is an imitation and compilation of many different things. It can be a remix of strobist and 35mm high ISO classic photojournalism at the same time and in that way it is very unique. A good way to find your style (something that I am still trying to accomplish, but people like Bobby Earle have dialed) is to shoot different mediums. Go back to the roots of what you want to shoot, find out where it comes from and study the photographers who do it better. Buy a cheap rangefinder or a medium format camera. All of these things will make you see cameras differently. And when you see your camera in a new light, with new possibilities, it is much better than even a new lens.

[Maureen Souza]

Keep it simple and fun. I go to the rehersal the day before and check out the lighting and the best places to take portraits. I practice a few of my standard settings and decided beforehand what will work best.That takes a lot of stress off.

I also try to get as much of the posed shots before the wedding and prefer to do candid photography for the rest of the day. I don't like photographers that hog the B&G for pictures and keep them from celebrating with their guests.

[SoccerRef]

Maureen...

I agree to some extent about hogging the B&G, but the dilemma as I see it is that most Brides still don't want to see the Groom before the ceremony which means the only time we can get them is after the ceremony and before the reception. After the reception doesn't work, 'cuz most of them are all sweaty and don't look their best after the reception. And I have yet to find a couple who wants to redress a week or two later to do photos.

[form]

I disappointed myself again yesterday, this time with a quinceanera. The shots during reception and ceremony were fine, but when I had the girl and her court during the pre-shoot my number of ideas with her were very lacking and I didn't know the boundaries. I had visions of shots and wrote them down, but most of them I either couldn't pull off or didn't seem like they would work for her. As for using her date/chamberlain, again it wasn't like they were married or even dating, so the limits seemed more like a senior shoot. In short, I didn't know the bounds and limits and I got nervous, so I ran dry mentally.

[SoccerRef]

Sounds to me like you have a case of artistic brain freeze...

There are two things that help me when I deal with that. First, I get an ice cream cone. Then, I go shoot something totally different. Street photographs, Nature photographs, Automobiles, Planes, ANYTHING other than people or sports. It is amazing how that opens my eyes. And I have figured out why.

It is because there is no expectation. I don't expect anything, and more importantly, nobody else expects anything. It is amazing what freedom from expectation does to your artistic eye...