No wedding is complete without photography and today it is an integral part of any wedding. Destination weddings have found new meaning thanks to wedding photos.
Wedding photography is a specialty in photography that is primarily focused on the photography of events and activities relating to wedding. It may include other types of portrait photography of the couple before the official wedding day, such as a pre-wedding engagement session.
The practice of wedding photography evolved and grew since the invention of the photographic art form. However, in the early days of photography, most couples of more humble means did not hire a photographer to record the actual wedding itself. Until the later half of the 19th century, most people didn’t pose for formal wedding photos during the wedding. Rather, they might pose for a formal photo in their best clothes before or after a wedding.
Due to the nature of the bulky equipment and lighting issues, wedding photography was largely a studio practice for most of the late 19th century. Over time, technology improved, but many couples still might only pose for a single wedding portrait. Wedding albums started becoming more commonplace towards the 1880s, and the photographer would sometimes include the wedding party in the photographs. Often the wedding gifts would be laid out and recorded in the photographs as well.
At the beginning of the 20th century, colour photography became available, but was still unreliable and expensive, so most wedding photography was still practiced in black and white. The concept of capturing the wedding “event” came about after the Second World War. In the 1970s, the more modern approach to recording the entire wedding event started evolving into the practice as we know it today.
There are two approaches to wedding photography – traditional and photojournalistic. Traditional wedding photography provides for more classically posed images and a great deal of photographer control during the ceremony. A Photojournalist style of wedding photography takes its cue from editorial reporting styles and focuses more on candid images with little photographer interaction.
A third style is a fashion-based approach. In contemporary/fashion-based wedding photography, a photographer will combine candid images of the events of the day. The emphasis in contemporary photography is to capture the story and atmosphere from the day, so that the viewer has an appreciation of what the wedding was like, rather than a series of pre-determined poses.
A contemporary wedding photographer will usually provide Indoor photography at a church, temple, or other private venue during the ceremony and reception. Outdoor photography Both posed and candid shots of the wedding couple and their guests at the religious or civil ceremony, and the reception that follows. Formal portraiture in the studio Digital services, such as digital prints, slides shows and online galleries.
In the end the albums are memoirs of the grand day that you would preserve and cherish for a lifetime.
