A Guide to Finding Your Ideal Wedding Photography
As you start the process of picking your wedding photographer, it can be difficult to know what you are looking for, especially in terms of what your actual images are going to look like. There are so many different wedding photography styles out there; it can be hard to figure it all out.
Social media is full of beautiful wedding imagery and it can be easy to look at images and like them but not know why you like them. It can also be easy to be drawn to images that are more trendy or more experimental but not know if you should get this type of photography for your wedding.
You’ll hear a lot of lingo thrown around as you look at websites. This guide is to help you understand the differences in shooting styles and editing so that you can make a more informed and confident decision when it comes to picking your perfect wedding photographer.
Let’s Talk About Different Wedding Photography Styles
Shooting Style Versus Editing Style
Let’s start here. There are two different aspects of “style” when it comes to wedding photography.
First, you have the shooting style. This is what happens during your wedding. It encompasses how your photography photographs – the angles and composition, their interaction with you, and even the equipment they use.
Second, you have the editing style. This is what happens after your wedding and entails how your images are edited for the final look.
Both aspects play a significant role in determining what your images look like but the final result can be a combination of many of the two factors — which helps explain why there are so many different photography looks out there.
Let’s look at the different shooting styles and editing styles to help you pick your perfect Key West photographer.
Photography Shooting Styles
Here are some of the more common photography shooting styles and how they look on your wedding day. It is important to note that your photographer may combine these styles (and honestly, most good photographers do) but all will have one style that they are partial to and that they focus on more.
Documentary Wedding Photography
Documentary wedding photography is a style that captures the day as it unfolds, with minimal posing or direction from the photographer. This style is perfect for couples who want to capture the real, unscripted moments of their wedding day.
Documentary wedding photographers are often referred to as “fly on the wall” photographers, as they blend in with the crowd and capture the day as it happens. Historically, this type of photography is more focused on storytelling.
Traditional Wedding Photography
Traditional wedding photography is a style that focuses on posed, formal portraits of the couple, their families, and their wedding party. This style is often used by couples who want to have traditional, timeless photos of their wedding day. Traditional wedding photographers are more likely to step into the moment to pose it to make it look the absolute best.
This type of photography also often uses a studio setting or outdoor location with natural light. They use a variety of lighting techniques, such as backlighting and side lighting, to create flattering portraits.
Fine Art Wedding Photography
Fine art wedding photography is a style that combines elements of documentary and traditional photography to create artistic, stylized images. This style is often used by couples who want to have unique, one-of-a-kind photos of their wedding day.
Fine art wedding photographers often use a variety of techniques, such as long exposure, black-and-white photography, and creative composition, in their images. The images created by fine art wedding photographers tend to have a decidedly refined and high-end feel.
Location-Focused Photography
Another type of shooting style that is relevant to Key West is a location-focused style.
When you get married in Key West, you are most likely getting married because of a deep connection to the area. Hiring a photographer who understands this and who focuses on capturing the two of you IN the location that you love so much, can be highly appealing.
A location-focused photographer takes time to get the two of you in different areas around the island, focusing on both you and this little slice of paradise.
Film Photography
A final photography style is a film photography style. This style is closely associated with fine art photography, but the two are mutually exclusive. A film photographer uses good old fashion film photography (film, not video) as their medium of choice (although it is usually a combination of both film and digital).
The way this affects the shooting style is that you are more limited to the number of frames that you photograph with film, making each shot more intentional and the photographer is generally more invested in the moment. In opposition, digital is virtually unlimited, allowing you to take more images without as much thought and focus on what is actually going on.
Film naturally gives a more dreamy and organic feel and the actual styling of the images is generally more natural as well.
Photography Editing Styles
After the wedding day, a whole other type of work begins for your photographer — the editing process. This is what gives your images the final look; when it is determined if your images will be black and white, darker, lighter, super vibrant, or more muted. The options for how your photographer edits are truly limitless but here are the big editing styles that you see today.
And remember, within these styles are a whole range of variations. Some photographers edit more drastically, others more lightly. It really does vary.
Light & Airy
Offering a similar feel to film photography, light and airy is one of the most popular styles out there. None for its bright whites, blown-out skies, and natural skin tones, this style is all about the natural light and bright whites and colors. Many fine art photographers gravitate to this editing style.
Dark & Moody
The dark and moody editing style is another popular style that is characterized by darker colors, deep greens, and more brownish/orangish skin tones. The final effect is quite dramatic and cinematic in nature.
Classic – True to Life
A classic, true-to-life editing style is one that tries to avoid the more trendy editing styles of the day and go for a look that is completely natural to what the natural eye sees. This type of editing is minimal and doesn’t add a lot of “extras” to the images.
Black & White
Black and white is sometimes an editing style in-an-of itself but usually, this is an editing style that is interspersed throughout a gallery with mostly colored images. There are, however, photographers who shoot mainly (or fully) in black and white). Make sure you are aware of how much black and white a photographer usually changes the images to and decide if this amount is ok for you and your aesthetics.
HDR
One of the newer forms of editing is HDR editing – which means high dynamic range. This works exceptionally well with landscapes to bring out vibrant colors and make the image high-definition. If you go with a wedding photographer who uses HDR, make sure you hire someone who is very good at keeping the people in the images looking natural.
Now that you have an idea of what the different wedding photography styles are, it is time to find your photographer. Start here to begin your search for your Key West wedding photographer
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