Must Know Facts For Better Indian Wedding Photography

Being a plethora of colors and various different ceremonies, that Indian weddings are, you can never be too determined about the events you should cover during Indian wedding photography, and the ones you can ignore. There are multiple important events taking place everywhere, be it engagement, or tying the knot, dance celebration or the seating of the bride and groom. This might confuse a photographer regarding how will he cover the wedding effectively. There are many family expectations of getting pictures of each guest. This might clash with your fancy of taking creative and natural photographs of guests and, bride and groom. Thus, it is proper to work with proper management and planning. Some of the guidelines are mentioned below to help you get the best photographs of Indian wedding.

TAKE NOTE OF EVERYTHING

Discussion over a phone call will not be enough when the event that is to be covered includes a good amount of people and several important ceremonies. Thus, the best practice to begin with will be to sit with family coordinator for photography and learn every detail. These details might include,

Timings - The timing of Indian wedding may have the ability to put you off guard is they turn out to be a surprise. The main part of the wedding, which is ‘tying the knot’ usually, takes place after midnight around 2 am or 3 am. The best ways to keep up with such odd hours is by learning about them beforehand and get your sleep in the morning hours.

Coordinator – Ask the family about who will be the photography coordinator that will guide you through guests that are important, ceremonies that are a must-click and events that will happen next. If there is no coordinator, ask the family to nominate the person who is well acquainted to both families – of bride as well as groom to help you through both side’s guests.

Other photographers – Chances are that there will definitely be a team of other photographers present along with you in the wedding. This has a reason. The groom’s family also has their share of rituals that they perform. However, since no photographer can be present at two places at a time, or even travel for both, they hire their own photographer(s). In such a situation, it is better to know about such arrangements beforehand for balance and management. Talking to other team will avoid ugly scenarios of clashes or interference in each other’s work.

TALK TO BOTH – THE BRIDE AND THE GROOM

The wedding belongs to them and even if no one else suggests, request for a meeting with them (together). This will give you a better idea of their expectations from their wedding pictures. They can give you the best idea of which profile (right or left) is better for their face, pre-wedding shoots, rehearsals, and ceremonies with mixed traditions. 

It will also give you a chance to discuss the extra time that the couple might have to make before or after the ceremonies for their photos. You can tell them about when you think is the best time to shoot the couple’s pictures and discuss the poses. They may even have a theme or some inspiration that they might want you to follow. Thus, taking out time to discuss with the bride and groom will help you plan the Indian wedding photography and them to stay preplanned about the timings of photo session. It will save time and efforts. 

Build a relationship; it is better when you work with understanding, not as a service provider.

BE PREPARED FOR WORKING EXTRA

Indian marriages are seldom time bound. They may begin late and end late as well. A four-hour time difference (considering that they might begin 2 hours late and end 2 hours late) is usual and in most cases, expected. So, it is highly recommended for you to keep your chargers and batteries ready for such delays. Keep yourself ready for such delays by snacking and munching on appetizers and starters, since the main course is usually served late.

The best you can do to avoid any mess is to request a stay at the wedding venue itself. It will save you the time and effort of being on a run for batteries or carrying the burden of all your equipments everywhere.

The second best thing will be to keep a team with you that will take care of extra batteries, event timings, and different ceremonies for you.

Make sure you are clear about the expenses of extended hours and teams when you draw a contract.

LIGHTINGS 

Since half of the marriage (including all the major ceremonies) will be taking place after sunset, and during post-midnight hours, you will want some serious arrangements of lightings. Considering the long period of time that the wedding takes as well as the odd hours, faces might begin to look weary, tired, and sleepy. In such situation, lighting can be your best assistant to make the pictures look beautiful and lively. 

However, halogen lights are highly NOT recommended. They make all pictures look artificial and take the essence away from them. If possible, try taking pictures under dim lights to give it the natural flavor of midnight wedding with all clarity and high resolution. This can be hard if you never visited the venue before the wedding date. It is always a better idea to visit the venue beforehand and test all possible scenarios. 

Balance the flash with the natural light by using the right camera that can shoot up to 10,000 ISO and produce pleasant outcomes. You can also try black and white or vintage sepia photographs or add a little grain to it.

Use the natural dimness of light in your favor rather than adding artificial lights so that the viewer can feel the ambience of that moment even years after the picture is taken.

Advice from a wedding photographer

Wedding is a one-in-a-lifetime ceremony that is full of new hopes, happiness and celebration of all sorts – dance, music, blessings and party. The one time when all your loved ones are around you, equally happy and cheerful. It is a collection of moments full of immense happiness and surely you would want all of them captured by your wedding photographers.

To get the best outcomes, here are some advices straightaway from the professionals that could result in satisfaction and content.

The weather does not matter – Most of the disappointment begins with weather. Imagine if you were expecting  your wedding photos bright and shining under the sunshine, and it rained. You would be disappointed, right? But, according to professional photographers it does not matter whether the weather is sunny, cloudy or rainy. You can always get perfect pictures naturally just by being genuinely cheery. Your hair might be dripping and clothes clinging to your skin, but you would look like those happy, sassy couple who did not give a toss and celebrated anyway. The wedding is always more important than the weather. Thus, cheery faces with rainwater dripping all over them will look better than artificial poses under sunshine.

Trust them – Some photographers might ask you to come aside for a while. Understand that this is because of a reason -  maybe they found a perfect venue for your picture, perfect lighting or maybe they found you looking gorgeous. They might even ask you to pose strangely or funnily. Do not doubt them or hesitate. You never know what they were thinking unless you see the photograph. Contemplate that someday you will look back and it may be those silly pictures that will evoke the best of emotions in your heart. All the time and efforts that your professional photographer will ask you to make will eventually pay off when you will look at your pictures.

There is a reason it is expensive -  Many clients are also worried and complaining about the price of their wedding photography. There is a reason it is expensive. While, it might seem to be very easy a task to pick on any random camera and clicking shots, it doesn’t work this way. Photography consumes a lot of time and efforts, almost 6-7 days. Plus, there is so much preparation done before the wedding actually takes place. Proper equipments have to be gathered, training is done,the insurance is purchased, and creativity also takes equal efforts when they think of different angles, lightings, poses and a backup plan for all uncertainties.

Discussions – The best you can do to avoid any disappointment on both sides is discuss about expectations, requirements and implementation. The expenses can be studied beforehand with all extra charges if any. The copyrights of the pictures will be held by whom? Every little detail is necessary to be discussed. It will save both from mistakes and events that my turn into disappointment.

Do not rush them – Once the photographer has given the deadline of delivering the photos, do not rush him before the deadline passes. The times and patience will show results. Let the photographer take his time so that he is able to do his best. Rushing him would mean hasty work and the frustration will show in the photographs.

Get a pre-wedding shoot – Sometimes, the bride and the groom are conscious about themselves – maybe they don’t find their left profile as appealing as the right one or may be the bride wants her eyes to be focused on more than her smile. Ambiguity of such details can result in dissatisfaction. The best way to deal with it is conducting a pre-wedding shoot. It will help all of you determine what pose or angle will be the best. If you look more photogenic in black and white photos.

However, photographers also suggest that a happy bride will look good no matter what than a bride who is nervous and self-conscious.

Avoid too much of grouping – We understand that the wedding is an event that witnesses the presence of all your loved ones and you would want all of them to be in your wedding photos to someday look back at them in the future. But, grouping them again and again will not be the ideal solution. It will take the photographer’s focus away from guests who are enjoying themselves (and will probably make better photos). While, you can ask the closest (family and friends)  to get group photos with you, let the others be captured in their natural selves.

Tell them everything of your plan – If you are planning something special like lanterns, candles or flowers, do not hide it from the photographer. Tell them so that he is readily present their with planned photographic ideas. It will save time and effort and generate best photographs.

Don’t keep unrealistic expectations -  Yes! You might have been motivated from movies or pinterest or Instagram. But, do not send your wedding photographers their links. You might want to tell tem what kind of photos you wish for, but unrealistic ideas posted  on multimedia will do no good. These pictures are taken well-defined and in several takes for the purpose of posting them. You in your wedding will not be able to giv to too much time and efforts while turning your back against ceremony, guests, dances and party.