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Articles and Reviews
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Wedding Photography Comments Part II Styles
of Wedding Photography – Formal (Traditional) versus Candid (Photojournalistic) With that last comment, you might have guessed that I like the PJ style of photography over the formal style in which most shots are set-up and posed. I do not want to imply that I do not respect the photographers who choose to photograph in the formal style, just that I do not find it personally pleasing as the PJ style. Formal wedding photography is actually more challenging than the PJ style in my opinion. A formal wedding photographer has to memorize dozens of poses and variations in order to shoot enough film to provide the couple with enough meaningful choices. Attention to minute details is required for posing and lighting and the all the extraneous details around the subjects. The process is time consuming and in my own experience I have averaged a mere 12 frames per hour shooting formals with my medium format kit.
A friend (Larry Rotta) and I have discussed this Asian glamour style in the past and we both agreed that it was the printing process that provided the special look or glow to the images and subjects. Very skilled printers with airbrushes produce very glamorous looking subjects with nary a blemish on their faces. The look at first glance seems to have been done with a soft focus filter but closer examination of the subjects will reveal that all the details are in sharp focus and do not have the hazy, softness that a typical soft focus filter would induce on the image. Neither Larry nor I have ever been able to order prints looking like what the Asian artisans can produce. And this is after I brought in samples of my own wedding photos to point out exactly what I wanted. The counter person at the pro lab simply passed them off as having been taken with a soft focus filter. Since I have taken my share of portraits with soft focus filters, I can state that this is pure bunk. So, while I could sit down and enjoy the formal albums produced by the skilled Asian photographer, I would likely gnash my teeth at having to flip through the typical western-based formal album, especially the ones with the studio backdrops that look like refugees from the Sears portrait studios. And before you send me vitriolic comments, I too own one of those cheesy backdrops and have only used it sparingly since purchasing it some years ago. Now just because I personally do not prefer an album full of traditional poses that is not to say that there should not be some taken. There will always be room enough for group shots of the families and wedding party and a few set-up shots of the couple are nice to have but in the whole, I like seeing and capturing spontaneous action as it happens. Individual
Styles
I may work with another photographer to cover an event and although the subjects and the events that follow will obviously result in some very similar looking shots, my own ideas about what is important to capture and what is not will result in a different look and feel compared to the other photographer’s work. I would also hope that my own sense of style would come through my shots and they in turn would complement the other photographer’s work for reduced duplication. Formal photographers will also have their style and look honed through their years of experience. Each will do the classic poses but it is really the poses beyond the classics that define a formal photographer for me. How many three-quarter profiles or bust shots of a bride can we take? Show me some creativity and style that goes beyond the norm and the expected. The ones that can do this impress me immensely and make me very envious of their abilities (again, for the most part, the Asian photographers over the western ones). Equipment
Choices Candids and PJ style usually do not see print sizes larger than 8x10 or 8x12 inches, so 35mm format works very well for this style. The speed of operation and ability to capture fast flowing action is a valuable tool for the photographer. The number of shots taken usually far surpasses what a formal photographer can take using a medium format rig. This large number fits in perfectly with a storytelling concept in which the viewer sees the wedding day unfold in a fluid manner instead of the disjointed, individual frame by frame of a formal style. The use of zoom lenses provides the photographer with instant flexibility and compositional choices instead of worrying about changing prime lenses all the time. For the candid PJ style, handholding the camera is the necessary evil in order to capture the action and not trying to haul around a tripod everywhere you go. Thankfully, Canon and now Nikon, offer good handholding lens options in Image Stabilization and Vibration Reduction technology (I’m drooling all over myself in anticipation of being able to match Larry and his 70-200mm f2.8 IS with Nikon’s new 70-200mm f2.8 VR).
The use of top of the line SLRs from any brand is very beneficial over second or third tier cameras. Some may describe cameras as being merely light tight boxes but ask any of them which cameras they would choose to use for the money shots and you can be assured that most if not all would select the best of their brand of choice. For the PJ style, the main considerations are:
Film
and/or Digital The next
big thing to come, digital, is here and now and is fully ready for
prime time with no qualifications when using the top digital SLRs
from Nikon and Canon. More and more pros are getting into digital
to replace their film cameras, among them Denis Reggie, probably the
biggest of the big-name, big-money pros working in the
Film is not going to disappear anytime soon and it will still be used by many pros for years to come but with the way digital is coming along with its many refinements, its advantages may outweigh the disadvantages of a large one-time capital outlay as well as permanent power requirements among others for some early adopters. No need to worry about shooting B&W or color during the shoot as everything is in color first with the decision for B&W deferred till the editing stage. As the ambient light changes, so too can your ISO equivalent settings on the digital SLR, no need to have multiple cameras with different emulsions of film loaded (of course an additional digital SLR should be available as a back-up camera). If you need to ensure you got the shot, preview it on the LCD screen built into the digital SLR. Doing a group shot and not sure if you have everyone with their eyes open, preview it! Need to set-up a complex lighting situation but not sure of exactly how much power you need for the ratios you want, preview it! Have your clients asked you to host a selection of photos onto a website so that they can easily share with friends and family half way around the world? Well, you will have an easier time of it with a digital SLR than scanning the negs or prints and cheaper than if you need to have a lab scan the shots for you. Have your clients asked for a digital album to mail out because you were not smart enough to have a website to host the photos? Burn the images to a CD-R and unless specifically agreed upon, you only have to provide low resolution JPEGs to prevent unauthorized printing – unless you have agreed to sell high-resolution files burned onto CD-R.
For the digital photographer, selling high-resolution originals is not a bit deal because the photographer simply burns them onto a CD-R, while retaining his own CD-R (or keeping them on the hard drive) for promotional purposes. I like digital and for the most part the workflow and benefits suit me perfectly over what film offers but for others film is still the superior choice for a few reasons. I qualify this statement with the caveat that I have not shot a wedding entirely in digital format and I shudder to think of the editing time required for an “average” 1,000 capture event for a full day shoot. Film can be more cost conscious, especially in Vancouver where finding a reasonable cost for a digital print at the pro labs is almost nonexistent. An email buddy of mine in the Philippines mentioned that Fuji Frontier 5x7 prints cost virtually pennies per print whereas in Vancouver, a 4x6 costs $1 from a reputable professional lab (you can go to London Drugs and buy digital prints for about $0.50 per 4x6, but I somehow don’t think you’re going to trust a drugstore with client wedding photos). Add to that the editing time required of the photographer or someone to do it for him, and we see that a lot of time and money can be tied up especially when we are dealing with hundreds of proofs per wedding. Not every wedding photographer is a full time photographer. Day jobs are required to fill in the gaps between bookings and in the down season, only a handful can actually make a good living doing photography all year round and even these pros take on a variety of jobs beyond weddings to keep the bank account in the black. So, for the part time pro whose work is primarily during the summer season, a huge capital outlay for state of the art digital SLRs (remember a pro needs at least two bodies) and its attendant accessories, going digital has to pay dividends immediately. For busy people on the go all the time, digital may be great during the actual picture taking process but far less so for the post production editing required. Dropping off the dozens of rolls of film at a lab and letting them sweat the details while the photographer is off to another shoot or booking makes more sense.
What is the benefit of doing it all in-house? The photographer charges the same rates as he or she would have for a film shoot but with a digital kit, there is no more costs for film, processing and printing via chemicals. Cost per print goes down significantly with a digital darkroom and printer option. Digital editing also provides the photographer with the ability to create unique print layouts and packages that while possible with film would be more work and expensive than would be worth the payout. The major fly in the ointment for digital photographers right now is the storage of e-files and the stability of those files on the medium chosen, which at this time is the ubiquitous CD-R. However, there more and more reports of users experiencing failures in older CD-Rs and the generally accepted lifespan of CD-Rs of between 10-15 years may actually be as few as 5 years depending upon the brand used. DVD will take over from CD-R but not likely until all the participating companies agree on a common standard across the board and until costs per DVD come down for the average consumer to accept it (DVD-R seems to be the most popular standard at this time with average costs below $10 per DVD-R). Even then, the same stability issue could plague DVD discs too. Some users who can afford them are turning to external Firewire or USB 2 hard drives to back up the CD-Rs. There are plenty of options for those pros choosing to invest in digital now. One need not go wholly film or wholly digital but can mix and match to suit one’s desired needs and effects. A film shooter can have negs scanned and then printed via digital Lightjet printers. Or a digital shooter can take his e-files and have them printed conventionally via Fuji Frontier (okay, a Fuji Frontier is not really conventional but the final output is on regular photographic paper with conventional print life). Right now both film and digital are viable options with the latest generation of digital SLRs essentially equaling a good scan of a 35mm piece of film. Up to Super B (or Super A3 for the Europeans) print sizes, which are more than what most wedding pros would ever need for an album, there would be little to choose from. One would select the format that best suits the individual style and needs. However, digital is not static and will continue to advance in quality and I am fantastically excited over the prospects of receiving medium or even large format quality images in a 35mm sized package and convenience. Some are saying 35mm based digital in the 6 MP range is rivaling medium format even now but my own tests do not bear this assertion out and digital is not likely to really give medium format a real run for its money until we see 16 MP resolution cameras in 35mm sized bodies. Physical
Fitness After a full and long day of shooting, your neck will be sore and certainly your legs and knees will feel it the next day. Add to the stress of being a wedding photographer is the lack of food and drink that one ingests. When I shoot I generally do not eat during the working hours because my body seems to go into an alternate mode in which the normal eating cycles are on hold. I do eat when there is a lull in the shooting activities and this is where having a few power bars and bottles of water in your kit bag would come in handy. Ingesting liquids is very important. Working long hours especially in the summer can quickly lead to dehydration. Drink a good amount when the opportunity presents itself. My friend Larry even carries a bag of vitamin C with him to eat near the end of the day, so in this regard a mixed vitamin and mineral supplement would be a good idea. To ensure that your body does not feel so beat up the next day, do some exercise regularly with a combination of cardio and strength training being the best mix. I run a few clicks every day after work in the summers to ensure my lungs have decent capacity so that I’m not running out of breath running from one location to another. Running also helps to condition the legs for long shooting days and promotes overall fitness so that you’ll have no problem fitting into your suit, which leads us to… Presentation
and Comportment Your appearance should exude your professionalism but ensure that you are comfortable in your chosen suit or dress. The nature of the wedding will also dictate your attire, as it would seem silly to be in full suit and tie for a beach wedding where the participants are in shorts and casual dress. Just as a black tie and tux wedding will require something a wee bit better than your Dockers and loafers. A suit is a safe choice for the majority of weddings you will photograph but have a couple on hand for different temperatures and climes. A heavy wool suit will kill you in the summer and a thin linen suit is hardly suitable for winter shooting. Black or navy blue is a safe choice but a nice conservative gray could be the way to go, as gray will not absorb as much heat as a black suit during the summers.
A nicely pressed shirt and tasteful tie finishes off the look. Depending upon the event, a sport jacket with a button-less shirt is a good way to obtain even more freedom of movement but avoid the tie-less dress shirt in a suit look. You would look even sloppier than you would by going in shirt and tie only, which I do when it is too hot to wear the jacket. Given how much you will sweat and work in these pieces of clothing, buying a Hugo Boss or Armani is obviously not the way to go. Carrying heavy shoulder bags and cameras and lenses around you all day for the whole summer will turn that $1000 plus suit into an expensive dish rag. Buy some good-looking suits but don’t break the bank for them, break the bank for the cameras and lenses instead J With you looking like a million bucks (but not spending such) ensure that your attitude is also worth a million bucks and always remember that the bride is always right. Make her happy and your day will go by swimmingly, make her upset or angry and expect to bear the brunt of her frustrations. Upset brides, even if the cause has nothing to do with you, will be more critical of everything that happens and really it’s understandable since this was suppose to be their day and something may have gone wrong. Related to this train of thought is how various individuals seem to think of themselves more than the primary subjects, the married couple. Individual priests think of their own comfort and sensibilities more than the couple’s and can introduce a whole slew of rules that everyone has to follow in their church. No flash when prayers occur, stay in front of the priest and not behind, no camera noises near the priest, no tripods, no this, no that. This frustrates me as a photographer since my job is take capture the events as they unfold and following all the rules means sitting on my hands through much of the service. This is not to suggest I am some trigger-happy photographer shooting and strobing at movie camera rates, not at all, but certain conservative rules are more about respecting archaic individuals and ancient rituals than about God or the couple themselves. I am not criticizing churches or religion because what is allowed in a service comes down to what the individual priest allows. Some will be quite liberal in the use of the camera and flash and others are very strict in refusing to allow anything to mar their perception of how the ceremony will proceed.
Priests are not the only one guilty of conspiring against photographers with a job to do. Hotels and their staff can make life miserable for the photographer in refusing assistance or even basic information as to what policies a hotel may have during the reception. It seems that as soon a photographer shows up looking like a pro, brick walls of attitude are erected while all the guests with their pathetic point and shoots snap away like mad with nary a comment (from priests or other). This attitude towards the designated wedding photographer is more deserving of the predatory sharks otherwise known as paparazzi, which do snap away indiscriminately to feed the voracious tabloid appetites. Whereas the wedding photographer is paid by the couple to capture their memories, big difference I think. Conclusion I do not like seeing stuffy albums filled with vignettes of 8x10s taken in a studio with a background drape, with the subjects stiff and smiles, though relatively natural looking, still contrived in the studio setting. I want
a natural flow to the wedding day and as such, I very much do prefer
the PJ style of photography. Formals still have their place and a
handful should still be taken as record keeping shots, but should
not be what the wedding and/or album is based entirely around. Weddings
are a celebration with friends and family and my job as a wedding
photographer is to capture as much of that celebration as possible
as it happens. Edwin's Equipment List for Weddings (now out of date since transitioning to digital in 2006):
Favored Films for both 35mm and medium format:
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Correspondence & About this website Copyright © 1998-2008 Edwin Leong |
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The 
The
best formal photographers in my opinion come from
Put
two photographers in the same setting to photograph the same event
and you should end up with two different “looks”. A bride walking
down the aisle arm in arm with her father is pretty basic but when the shutter is released is based upon the individual photographer’s
decision-making process and style.
No
matter what the brand of camera, the use of the best lenses, whether
prime or zoom, must be a primary consideration for any aspiring wedding
photographer. Yes, it is the photographer that makes the creative
and aesthetic decisions for a shot but using top notch lenses and
equipment provides the reassurance that your shot will come out as
good as it can be for the format of choice. The use of fast prime
or zoom lenses also provides the ability to work in low light, and
trust me this can be very important in low light settings, even with
high-speed film loaded in the camera. 
I
believe we are in a wonderfully exciting transition period between
the choice of film or digital for covering a wedding event. Film has
been around for what seems to be eons as an event-recording medium
and every major technological innovation in photography has only served
to provide the photographer with more and more options and creativity.
Speaking
of which, there seems to be a big trend towards clients asking for
the negatives to be included in the package. There are plenty of photographers
who will vehemently disagree with this on the basis that this represents
lost income. I am not one of those photographers because in the vast
majority of cases, the clients will order what they want during the
time of the event and not one or three or five years down the road.
Holding onto negatives just means more space, money and liability
tied up in my limited resources. Selling them to the clients makes
them responsible for it and note, I mention selling not giving the
negs away to the clients. Please note that my attitude here is one
of a part time photographer not dependent upon photographic revenue
to take care of my family and I can understand the hesitation in giving
up the negs from those photographers who must earn a full time living
from their photography.
Where
digital can make sense is for the photographer who is willing to learn
and has the time to invest into learning the editing side of digital
imaging and is also willing to invest in a state of the art printing
system. With a high quality digital darkroom, this kind of photographer
can take the photos, edit and then print off final proofs (up to whatever
size printer he or she has invested in). Everything is done in-house
with all editing decisions made by the photographer. Downside is additional
cost for a state of the art photo printer such as the Epson 5500 ($6000
CAN) that can print up to 13x19 and has print life measured in hundreds
of years, as compared to conventional prints measuring in the decades.
An Epson 2200 is a much lower cost option but its print speed is brutal
for volume work. 
What
does the physical fitness of a wedding photographer have to do with
photography? Ever try lugging around two heavy-duty professional quality
cameras along with large and heavy professional lenses for eight to
ten hours? Trust 
A
single-breasted suit is a better choice than a double-breasted one
to avoid bunching up and it is lighter and more mobile. Unbuttoning
a single-breasted suit will still look good compared to unbuttoning
a double-breasted suit and most times I need to remain unbuttoned
for as much mobility as possible.
I’m
venting here, so I am not ever suggesting breaking the rules. Find
out what they are beforehand and work within them, that is the professional
way of doing things. My comments reflect my desire to be able to capture
the ceremony in as subtle a manner as possible with minimal restrictions
to where I think good shots can be had but not being able to do so.