making portraits that will last a lifetime
formal photos
Approximate time:
1-2 hours
Formal photos is often the time when some of your favourite wedding day photos are produced. You have a time, and a place chosen specifically for taking some beautiful pictures. It all sounds like a recipe for success! So let's see what we can do to make it even more successful.
1) timing is everything
This can be a hard one to even begin to consider, amidst trying to plan your day around travelling guests, booked up venues, rentals and catering. I'm sorry to add one more thing to your list of time-specific activities, but here it is: the time of day you do your outdoor photos makes a big difference in the finished product. As much as the photographer may work magic with off-camera lighting, creative composition, and post-production magic, there just isn't anything quite the same as a sunset.
The adjacent photo was taken around 1:30pm, a not ideal time of day for photos, but is using an ultra wide lens to bring the directly overhead sun into the shot, and a powerful 600Ws flash to light the bride, while she is in the shade of the building, reducing harsh shadows. While it’s possible to pull off an individual setup like this, options and flexibility are greatly reduced close to midday.
The hour before the sun goes down, known as "golden hour', produces the most romantic and dramatic lighting you can get. It lights up people with glowing auras, and can even hide fine lines and some blemishes by washing out the photos a bit. Conversely, shooting photos at high noon will produce dark eyes and deep shadows, and accentuate wrinkles and blemishes. Your photographer may try to find shade from the sun to lessen these effects, and there is some work in post that can be done to lessen this as well… but why not just shoot at sunset to avoid all this extra time and effort?
One reason not to would be that this puts another scheduling strain on your day. If you're running late, you stand a chance of running out of time, which means running out of light. And who wants to shoot in the dark? Actually, that can be a lot of fun as well, and can add a whole new dynamic to your photo album. Shooting urban photos under streetlights or playing with glittering sparklers - but there’s a good chance that you won’t want those night shots to be your Only wedding photos ;)
2) location, location, location
Now that we’ve thought about the when, it’s time to think about the where. The where should be somewhere that you want it to be, and somewhere that you're comfortable. You don't want to just pick what everyone else picks because it seems popular, you want to choose a spot that suits you, and that is convenient for you. There are just a few things you could keep in mind, though:
a) You'll have to get there and back. On your busy day, make sure you account for the time it will take to get to the photoshoot site, including any walking from the car or setup that might be required. You wouldn't want to finally be ready to start shooting, only to discover you already have to head back to the reception!
b) Is there enough space? When you stopped in to have a look by yourself, you might not have taken into account that it won't just be you and your partner, but also your whole wedding party. The quaint little soda shop you had in mind is suddenly pretty cramped. That's okay, we can leave them outside for now. But you might want them in some of your other photos as well. ;)
c) Do you have permission? There are a lot of beautiful places that are unfortunately located on private property. "We'll probably be okay," is good enough for most days of the year, but not on your wedding day. Make sure you find out if there are any rules about photography or trespassing around the site you have planned for your photos. Peace of mind is a valuable thing!
d) Does it have a connection? So many times I’ve had couples tell me “We thought about doing some photos at this location where we had our first date, but it seemed silly.” It’s not silly! These are my favourite spots!
And in honour of these favourite spots, here are a few photos as examples. A childhood treehouse, the spot where their first apartment once stood, but has recently been bulldozed, the bookstore where they would often hang out for little dates. These are the unique photos that really get me, and that I want for you.
There isn't much to be said about this one, but it's something you can't forget! Even if the weather man (or weather app) is calling for a beautiful day, there is never a 100% certainty. Make sure you have a backup space in mind that isn't affected by the weather. Shooting in the rain can be fun, but when you spent all morning getting your hair and clothes just so, it can get old pretty quickly! The night shot here is in the middle a hurricane. We were outside for less than five minutes to get this shot!
If you’re willing to be flexible, however, you can often work around bad weather. Most rainy days aren’t raining 100% of the time, only spits and spurts. We don’t have a monsoon season around here. If you can drop what you’re doing and run outside for a sudden few minutes in the sun, it’s often surprising how much you can still get out of a rainy day. Unless you have a huge hurricane passing through, then you need to line up with the eye of the storm, which is how we squeezed in the cloudy photo here.
It's not just weather that can spoil a spot either. What was a once serene lakeside vista one day can suddenly become a post-apocalyptic construction side overnight. So if you do have your heart set on a location, make sure it will still be a location on your wedding day!
3) have a backup
4) love yourself
This is probably going to be the hardest thing I'll have to say in any of these blog posts. It's something that is often avoided in this context, but that I feel needs to be let out into the open. I will be writing this to brides, but I know that grooms have thoughts as well - they just rarely voice them. It is equally applicable to both men, women, and everyone in between.
More often than not a photographer will get awkwardly "serious-not serious" statements such as, "Feel free to whiten my teeth!", "I wouldn't mind if you photoshopped a few pounds off me!" and even, "I hate having my picture taken, I always look awful!"
There are two seemingly opposite sides to answering this that I feel are simultaneously both correct and important, and this is how it goes:
If you don't think your teeth are white enough, then whiten them. There is no shame in having white teeth. If you don't want to whiten them, then love your teeth the way they are. There is also no shame in having off-white teeth. You will be beautiful.
If you don't like how much you weigh, then adjust your diet/amount of exercise in the months before the wedding. There is no shame is working hard to shed a few pounds. If you don't want to, or don't think you can, then stay the same weight you are, and make sure your dress/suit fits your current size, not the size you think you "should" be. There is no shame in your clothing size. You will be beautiful. Having clothes that fit you is so much more important than struggling to reach an aspirational shape goal.
People often don't like having their pictures taken because they don't like what they see. But you know what? I know someone who does like what they see in those pictures of you. As a matter of fact, they loved what they saw so much that they decided to spend the rest of their life with you.
There are too many voices out there telling you how you're supposed to feel about the way you look, but nothing will make you look better than simply being comfortable in your own skin. Do what you want to do and don't do what you can't. Love yourself and allow yourself to be loved.
And you will be beautiful.
