Be a great guest, shoot great wedding photos

Memorial Day weekend, thus many weddings, are at hand, and we've all got our cameras ready. But, are you wondering how to get great wedding photos? Well, I gotta say -- its not your job. But if you want to be known as the guest who shoots great pictures that everyone want to invite to their wedding? I suppose I can give you a few tips.


The above photo is actually shot by my husband at a wedding I was a bridesmaid in a few years ago. I couldn't take the photo because I was standing at the front, to the left of the couple kissing their first kiss of marriage.




I am actually a journalist by trade, so a lot of what I do when taking pictures is learned from the lone photojournalism class I took in junior college and from hanging out with really great photographers. The great thing about digital cameras is you can take tons of photos and check em out during a pause in the action, deleting the ones you don't like. Above, I shot this photo of my friend Cathy, not realizing that the light would be perfect for a silhouette. All I saw was Cathy's mom putting a necklace on her and thought, "aw!"



This picture was a beautiful accident. I was all over the hotel room that Cathy was getting ready in, taking pictures of everyone and everything. In fact, Cathy's photographers probably wanted to smack me because I was in their way. Anyway, when I first saw this picture, I nearly deleted it. Luckily, my genius-at-Photoshop husband stepped in and saved the pic by coloring it with a sepia tone. Now, I tell people I did this on purpose. Heheh. So take note -- don't delete everything! But see the potential in a raw photo.



This photo is one of my favorites. You see, I was at the cake table, helping my mom with last minute fixes and stuff, when I saw Cathy and her new husband rehearsing their first dance as the banquet staff milled around and set the tables. It was wonderfully intimate, even with all those people around -- a couple working on their first steps together. My only regret is that my camera was not of a better quality and that I wasn't a better photographer to make this picture better.

Need more? I found some great photojournalism tips from Vincent Laforet. The first seven tips are things any aspiring photographer should take note of. I plan on focusing on some great photographers I know, too, in a future post.