Learning about wedding photography tips for making a great composition seems to be a good step to know more about this business. If you run in this industry than you may curious about how to make a nice composition that will looks stunning as a photographer and even more your couple will love it.
Beside lighting and mood we all know that composition is also one thing that really important to make your photographs stand out both in digital sight and in the final album. Here in this post I will share to you about my wedding photography tips that will make you know more for making a great composition from the real wedding session that I had.
Basic Wedding Photography Tips for Making Great Composition
Comparing to other photography niche like food or commercial, wedding is quite different because you are here to capturing fast moment that only passing once right in front of your eyes without any repetition chance. This challenge push every wedding photographer to stay alert for the perfect moment and concentrate for what they doing in the session.
To make it clear let me show you some basic wedding photography tips about making a great composition that you can use for your real wedding photo shoot.
1 – Put Your Couple at the Centre Line
Centre line is my first wedding photography tips of making great composition in wedding, this is very simple and belong to basic guide for making most common composition for all photographers.
See the picture above when I shoot the wedding of Australian couple in Bali, just after the blessing ceremony. In this session I put my Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM and set it on f5 and 1/60.
On that scene I ask all the groomsmen to stand together and face to the ocean and what I did is put all the men on the centre of my view finder than give some blank spaces on the right, left, and above. Due to this composition I will get all the men images clear while I still able to catch the moment in sharp and get a nice sunset ambiance after all.
Now let see other centre line composition photographs from other wedding,
On this scene I use my Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM than set it on f10 and I got the exposure on 1/160.
Here in this scene I shoot three beautiful bridesmaid on a nice cliff-front villa who wearing a nice dress. What I’m doing here is asking all three beautiful ladies to hold their flower bouquet bit forward, I set all of them on the centre line and I gave blank spaces on the right and left, below for water fountain, and above for the sky.
2 – Cut it Half
On this second wedding photography tips of making composition I will show you about how to cut your frame into two spaces and let the magic happen.
This picture above is taken in Bali Indonesia when I shoot for Indonesian – Italian wedding, it was truly beautiful day when I saw clear blue sky even the sun shine so hard. I saw there are a nice dry tree decoration where the celebrant lead the ceremony so I cut those frame into two space. The lower space is belong to the ceremony and the upper space is belong to the sky.
Using my favourite Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens on this wedding is a perfect decision that I’ve made. With f1.4 for the exposure right to my couple face and set the exposure into 1/6400 than I can get super sharp image with super soft clear sky above.
I also made another version while using this “Cut it Half” technique for shooting a nice couple shots following the ceremony. What I saw on the scene is my couple is walking out from the aisle so I ask them to stop at the bridge and let them kiss each other till I got this beautiful timeless image below.
3 – Give a Blank Space on Right or Left
My third wedding photography tips of creating nice composition is by giving a blank space on the left or right, you may choose one of them and get practice to it over and over again, let me show you!
I shoot those the picture above for an engagement purposes, what I did is posing my couple clearly on the right bottom and give an extreme blank space on the left. The good thing is the wind blows so hard during that scene and my wife bring me a Chiffon Solid Color Dance Veils Belly Scarves so I can make a wind blows effect. I simply covering my couple’s body with that long scarves and let the wind blow it naturally.
I shoot this engagement scene with a simple Canon EOS M50 Mirrorless Kit with EF-M 15-45mm than get the setting as f8 and 1/160 of exposure time.
I was remember that I also make another version of this scene through this photo below,
If you could see the photo above than I put my couple in an extreme side on the right bottom where the blank space on the left is covered full with those Chiffon Solid Color Dance Veils Belly Scarves which blows by the wind.
4 – Get a Foreground Effect on Frame
I was shooting for an engagement session in Jakarta back few years ago and we went to nice colonialism cafe at the downtown, when I sightseeing around the cafe I found a nice blank hanging lamp decoration. So what I did is asking my couple to sit on the wooden chair side by side and I take a chair to give me an upper angle to shoot than I get this beautiful image for them,
Here I brought my beast Nikon D810 FX-format and put the ultra wide Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lens on it till I get the setting in f2.8 and 1/50 of exposure time. Things that belong to its uniqueness on this scene is I shoot behind the blank hanging lamp and set my lens aperture in f2.8 so I get a clear and sharp image for my couple out there but get a nice blur effect at the the foreground.
I still using the same technique for shooting an accessories in Bali back few months ago and that day I got a nice white wedding shoes of my bride. I was placing a chair just nearby the pool and simply put that shoes on it, what I did is shooting that shoes with a nice blur foreground effect of the chair till I could get this nice and unique photo below,
5 – Get a Tight Frame
My last composition wedding photography tips on this part is set everything in tight on the frame, actually you can use any kind of lenses to shoot using on this technique but you may consider to have a tele lens or fixed lens.
I was shooting in Bali for romantic couple who coming from German and Philippine, we just finish the blessing ceremony and I ask my couple to shoot just next to the chapel. What I did is asking them to stand close each other and covered their heads by using white long veil till I got the wind blows effect in it.
I was shooting with my Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM tele lens from about 5 meter away from my couple and I get the setting as f2.8 and 1/50 exposure time. By using this lens you can switch the Image Stabilizer on to reduce your shutter speed number into 1/50, by using this technique you can see the veil blows effect naturally and get the veil in super soft, the rest you can set the aperture number of f2.8 so you can get sharp image and blur on the background.
I love this Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM so much and this is the first prime lens that I bought and use it for over than 5 years. This super lens give me an ability to shoot for a great moment from a far distance where I seriously able to shoot for the candid perfect moment without disturbing my couple emotion.
You may take a look for this mind blowing image below too,
I was shooting for a perfect moment when dad accompany his daughter walking to the aisle, I was predict that this moment will genuinely happen just within few minutes before the blessing ceremony begin. So what I did is running next to the altar and put my self down low than shoot as fast as I can. I want to make a super nice composition where I have my bride and her dad on the centre and the most important thing I want the floor reflection effect on it the frame too.
More practice will make you better!
You can do a lot of practice by using those 5 wedding photography tips above for making great composition on your real projects, this gonna make your sense and intuition stronger and one day you can find your own style that will blown your couple mind away.
I love to discuss with you related to this composition technique so just in case you have a question or opinion than I will feel happy to guide you in more further, just drop me a comment at the form below and we’ll get in touch.
5 Wedding Photography Tips for Capturing Perfect Moment
Moment is your most priority on wedding photography, as long as you got it done than you may forget a little bit about lighting or other technical things that sometimes will make you mind overload, the good news is there will be a post production work following this scene and you may learn more about how I retouching my wedding photos on my Photoshop #1 class.
Down here I will share 5 wedding photography tips that will help you to capturing the perfect moment in wedding.
1 – Let the Camera Stick on Your Hand
When you do a wedding photo shoot than normally you will be hired for at least 3 hours starting from short preparation, blessing ceremony, and post wedding shots and portrait of family. If you having this situation than my first suggestion is always hold your camera on the hand and be ready for any moment that will passing through in just 5 second window.
2 – Get Your Camera Ready for Clear Shots
In wedding photography, you are the sniper and sniper will always make sure that they gun is ready for clear shots. When you entering the chapel than you definitely must know about the ambiance light which will impact to your ISO, speed, and aperture setting. Don’t think to hard about because all you need to do is set your camera for a “ready to shoot” mode.
3 – Put the Right Lens on Camera
Having the right lens for your camera is really important and before the moment begin than you have to set all your gears is ready. You may need a tele lens if you can’t get close to the altar or you may need a lens that will provide you with big aperture features for making sharp and clear images.
To learn more about lenses that I use for shooting wedding than you can read my previous article about best lens for portrait and wedding.
I have several prime lens that I always bring on every wedding shooting such as:
Love those three lenses to shoot on majority of my wedding session and you could consider to have it too because it takes you to various unique angle that come in strong composition.
I always use Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS III USM to shoot during the blessing ceremony since I want to stay far from my couple so that they can enjoying the moment and I can get the clear candid moment from them naturally.
I use the Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM for shoot a detail or get a perfect personal or couple portrait just before the blessing ceremony begin. This fixed lens is amazing because come in 1.4 maximum aperture setting so I can get a super sharp image with a nice and soft blur background for sure.
The last lens that I always put is Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM where it helps me a lot to shoot during preparation and the party, what I love about this lens is they come in medium range of 24-70mm where I can get every moment without changing my lens. F2.8 is amazing because no matter where I am, both indoor and outdoor than I always get a sharp and clear images for sure.
4 – Don’t Check Your LCD so Often
Once you are sure that your camera is ready for clear shots than you must believe on your self and also on your gear than stay alert for fast moment. The most common mistake that every beginner wedding photographer do is,
Take a shot once and check the LCD!
The worse thing is they did it over and over again without having a good consideration that doing this so often will just take them for losing the perfect moment. Please remind that wedding is about capturing super fast moment and you are hired to catch it, generally all the moment that you see on your eyes is the special perspective that your couple can’t see so you definitely have a responsibility to show it following the wedding.
5 – Always Get Some References and Improvise with Your Own Style
The last wedding photography tips for having a great composition is open our mind and always looking for some references for other photographers. Once you get it done than don’t just copy and paste for what they doing because you can not do as same as other photographer did but also consider to improvise with your own style.
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