DIY - Wedding Photography

A good wedding photographer will have spent thousands of euros on their equipment. This enables them to get the best shots in any environment they work in, the dark church, the sunny churchyard or even a gloomy castle on a wet day.

The best amateur camera will often equal the specifications of a professional’s equipment, but it can’t match the artistic flair a professional brings to their pictures. The next time you are at a wedding, you could try and stand beside a professional and take the same shot as they do. You should ask permission of course! When you later look at the print from the Chemist, you should compare it with the one in the couple’s album; the shot will be as different as a Rum and coke to just a coke!

The first big difference is composition of the shot, you can try but you will not see what the professional sees in a telephoto lens. The background will look totally different from what you see with a naked eye.

Another consideration is lighting; often on summer weddings there is a lovely bright sunlight and a photographer will take photos of people with their backs to the sun. An amateur’s camera will usually produce a nice shot of the bright red rose behind, while Aunty Mary is a dark splodge in front – the professional’s secret is to use flash and turn the people away from the sun to stop them squinting.

Other things to be aware of is to look for objects in the background which may appear to be growing out of the back of people’s heads in a photo. To avoid this; a professional will leave the background out of focus, or stand slightly to one side. That extra step to the left can make a huge difference in the final picture. While split focussing can be done on most amateur digital cameras – it is feature that few use, and so the amateur will get poorer results than the professional. At a wedding the Camera manual is not really an option!

The last big difference between a professional, other than sheer experience is; the photo printing techniques that a professional will use, along with the range of papers, the colour correction technology and the shot selection – these are not always available to an amateur.

On talking to "A Roslyn Wedding" (www.roslynstudio.com) we have sussed out that it takes many things to be a great wedding photographer and personality is definitely important. A set of superior images is obviously crucial, but so is finding someone whose character meshes well with yours.

Roslyn likes to meet her clients the month before the wedding for a coffee and a chat. “It is so important that we get to know each other as it makes the day just more fun and relaxed. Don’t forget your photographer will be spending most of your wedding day with you; he or she will be right there in front of you as you walk down the aisle, as you cut the cake, pretty much for every important moment there is.
- you may have read this article in the Kildare Nationalist 22nd June 2006