Family Photo-shoots in Edinburgh

One of the many enjoyable things about my job is doing family photo-shoots with couples whose wedding I photographed previously and have now started their own family. Two of the children in this photograph belong to Natalie and Billy whose wedding I photographed at Melville Castle. They booked a family shoot with me just a few weeks ago and we had great fun doing various photos, styles and poses. You can see some examples if you follow my facebook page.

As a wedding photographer in Edinburgh it's always nice to meet up again with my couples and be involved in their family photography. After showing the photos to their family their grandmother then booked her own photo-shoot to get all five of her grandchildren photographed together. I set up my mobile studio in her living room and we did all five grandchildren and then for the parents some individual groupings and combinations. On a family photo-shoot I'm happy to do whatever you want there's no limits on how many photos I'll take or the variety of them.

When we'd got everything we wanted with the children one of family suggested we do all the children with the two dogs. It would have been a bit of tight squeeze in the living room adding in the two dogs so I suggested we move outside and sit all the children on the step and put the dogs in on either side.

I have a lot of experience photographing both children and animals and I knew it is almost impossible to get every single child and both dogs to be looking perfectly into camera all at the same time. Maybe that's why they say 'never work with children and animals!' lol What I do to get round this is a take a series of shots in quick succession, which maintains the consistency of light, and then I can swap a few faces or features around from the four or five photos. For this photograph I used my favourite shot of the five children all looking into camera as my base. I then switched in the dogs faces from two alternate shots to make the final image. Click link for more information on: Family photo-shoots in Edinburgh or for learning Photoshop techniques as above: Photography Training Courses in Edinburgh

How to photograph a wedding properly

There's an interesting article in the latest issue of Photo Professional magazine (a journal for Professional Photographers) which is very pertinent in its summation of wedding photographers. Here's a quote from it...

"A wedding should be photographed as if you were creating a historical document so that future generations can see what happened on the day. This means that as a photographer you shouldn't interfere. Once a photographer starts to direct and to take control of the wedding it becomes the photographers idea of what the day should look like rather than what the day itself actually is."

I'm sure you can identify with that. It's the Bride and Groom's Big Day and therefore everything should revolve around them, not the photographer. Of course, it does beg the question why then do the majority of wedding photographers not work in this way? The article goes on to answer...

"To be able to shoot a wedding without directing is incredibly difficult. The skill lies in the spotting of 'decisive moments' and the ability to capture the flavour of the day. You have to have a sixth sense, and to be able to anticipate what is going to happen, and then be in the right place at the right time. You need to completely understand composition and light to give depth to the pictures. It's safer and certainly for the inexperienced photographer more advantageous to him to direct all the photography which is why so many of them take exactly that approach."

For most photographers who book me for wedding training, particularly those who are currently photographing weddings, these are skills they are looking develop. One of the methods I use is to go through an entire wedding shoot with them explaining the thinking behind each photograph and how it was subsequently achieved each shot. The objective is to equip them and help them feel more confident about simply letting the day unfold naturally and photographing it in a natural, relaxed style. Of course, most weddings will contain an element of the day where the couple want family group photographs and their main bride and groom session. These do need some direction and input from the photographer but it is still possible by using techniques such as simple flow posing, to work comfortably and smoothly and retain that natural feel to the images. This also helps you work much quicker, too, which all involved on the day will appreciate.

If you are a wedding photographer in Edinburgh or indeed anywhere in Scotland and would like to learn more about this style of photographing a wedding you can book me for a one day wedding photography training course and we'll cover all of this and a whole lot more. Details and prices are on my website:
Photography Training courses Edinburgh

Edinburgh Wedding Photograph

Edinburgh is a great city to get married in! Therese and Stephen tied the knot at the registry office on the Royal Mile last weekend at Lothian Chambers. Most wedding photographers in Edinburgh enjoy weddings here as there's such a lot of options for photos. So many nooks and crannies along the Royal Mile and also a short walk up to Edinburgh Castle.

This shot was taken just across the courtyard from Lothian Chambers and around the back of the famous St. Giles Cathedral. There's a looping pathway that swings around the rear courtyard with a series of arches looking out onto the building. The archways make for excellent photos as they allow the light to flood along the walkway afford the opportunity to shoot a large variety of different images and styles within a few short minutes.

For this image I'd initially taken a series of full length and wide angle shots to make the most of the dramatic location and setting but then I wanted to get in a touch tighter to create something a little more intimate whilst at the same time keeping retaining the oldy worldy ambience of our environment. To ensure the bride and groom look natural and relaxed I simply asked them to swing around and for Stephen to lean back against the wall and fold his arms. I then asked Therese to move in and link in with him. It's not as classically posed as the shots I'd already taken but for this image it was expressions on the faces I wanted to lend emphasis to. I got them to move in for a kiss and when they broke apart asked them to look straight at me. The happiness and contentment shown on their faces is exactly what I was hoping for!

Although my priority here was capturing their happy emotions which is done with minimum fuss, I also took care with where I positioned the couple. You can see how the light flooding between the two sets of pillars behind them gives great depth and impact to the picture. I lit the couple themselves with an off camera light that I'd moved into approximately 45 degrees to the newly weds on my right handside. It is the creative lighting and a little post production work that makes the overall image so striking.

This photo was one of 50 taken during Therese and Stephen's bride and groom session all within twenty minutes. As their wedding party was quite small they didn't have many group photos so it took me less than ten minutes to do their requested 20 family group photographs. The majority of photos shot on the day were reportage (or photo-journalism) style so they weren't aware of me taking them as I work as unobtrusively as possible as I want to capture the atmosphere, emotions, feelings and magical moments. This are what makes being an Edinburgh wedding photographer so exciting!

If you would like to know more about the techniques and modus operandi of wedding photography check out my photography training page on my website for more info and prices on photography training courses in Edinburgh.