When things get a bit out of control

And people around you start directing the pictures you take. Not the situation anyone would like to find themselves in but that happens (to me) when there's a group of people getting more and more relaxed as the volume of champagne drunk increases.

So here's the situation: Bride and groom were having a picnic with bridesmaids and ushers and a couple of younger guests. I took the opportunity to get some candid shots. Soon one of the bridesmaids approached me and asked to take a picture of her which I agreed to do. Everything was taking place in a park with a lot of trees and the day was quite cloudy with occasional rain showers. So, after looking for some better natural light I told her where to stand. Soon there were more requests for posed photos (me and my friend kind of shots) which is all good. In the end we decided to do a shot of the bride with all the guys and the groom with all the girls.

I took the first shot and it ended up like this:

Sounds like these were kind of spur of the moment Candid shots while the guests were having some fun. I would have just gone with the flow and obliged. As for the second photo, while it was noon, you had the advantage of a darker background with the trees. I would have perhaps used a little bit of fill flash to bring out the colors a bit more but honestly, this would not have been a problem for me.

For me, I typically catch all the formals before the guests are drunk. But even then, if they have any ideas, I am usually all ears, especially if I am not short on time. They are there to have a good time. Let them.

This issue takes all sorts of shapes. Clients don't know what works photographically, but they think they do. So it's all about balancing what they want in the moment and what they will expect to see when you present the completed images. I try to give them what they ask for as long as we have enough time to get what I know will be better shots. And if there isn't enough time, I give them a very short but candid discussion about the choice they have before them. Then it's up to them.

Indeed, I let them have the fun but was expecting to get my share as well since we were not running out of time or anything. A little fill flash could have helped but it was in my bag. Like I said we had showers that day and my gear was quite wet.

Maybe this was not the best example. Actually had another similar case with that same wedding. Right after the ceremony in church we were doing a group shot outside with all the guests and relatives but some people refused to stand in formation and as if that wasn't enough they refused to get out of the picture too. I haven't gone all the way through the photos since i'm still working on another wedding but i believe i'll have to clone some people off the picture because of that. Never happened to me before...

I was doing a sparkler shot and 6 bridesmaids thought it would be fun to run around the bride and groom with sparklers. Of course it ruined the image but they had a blast. I then set up and did my shot.