How To Capture ‘The Moment’ at a Wedding and When It’ll Happen…

In this short post I hope to teach you how I take photographs at a wedding and why I’d be able to do it with my phone and still get (more or less) the same results.

Nine times out of ten people hire me as a wedding photographer its the natural photos that win over the business for me. The shots that capture pure love or happiness that seem like I was sneaking around like a photo-ninja in order to get it. In actual fact I was following the rules below…

But first… let’s talk about ‘the moment’

There are many of them but each only lasts a few seconds at best and you’ve got to know where to look for it and have done the legwork to make it possible. There are 3 features of the shot which are somewhat consistent. 
1) A pure natural smile that has the right level of cheekiness behind it.
2) A frame that suggests that the subject is not the only one in the room but feels as though they are. (A low f-stop is usually good for this.)
3) Eyes that are looking anywhere but into the camera.

And here’s what you should get…

So… how do you get these?

Firstly, there’s a rule: do not be seen. Holding a huge camera (or even a flashy phone) 5 meters from the couple with a giant flash on top of it and lasers pinging out the front to focus is going to get you seen. No one is relaxed in front of a camera. Ever. EVER. They simply act relaxed. Big difference when going for the moment.
So where do you stand? Well anywhere. I believe body language, attitude and approach here are key. I do not push people out of my way to take a photo until absolutely necessary. If the bride or groom notices me I simply put my camera down, smile and find another angle. If a crowd of people follow you to capture your angle, let them, get lost in the crowd. The point is when I shoot I do my best to blend. This also goes for what I wear. I don’t have branded T-Shirts and I do not wear jeans. I ask the bride and groom what the dress-code is and adhere to it thus blending in better.
You are going to get seen a lot of the time because you’re the photographer and people will treat you as one (most of the time); but when you can… camouflage yourself.
Bad places: Corners, right in front of the subject, doors/entry ways.
Good places: Sit at a table or on a chair next to other people (if there are any), not too far in-front of a crowd of people so you blend in.

Second rule, never put your camera down. These moments really do happen in milliseconds. I can give you probabilities of when they’ll happen. E.g. they’re very likely during a speech from a close family member, right before the cake gets cut, in between family photos but they also get scattered at random. You’re at an event scattered with love, the couple are going to look at each other lovingly from time to time before again realising they have a ceremony to perform. I cannot tell you the amount of times I’ve been looking with my eyes and not my lens only to regret it. The camera takes a minimum of a few milliseconds to focus, and you might not even have the right setting if you’re shooting in manual. Keep the camera up, focused and on the couple so you can press the shutter button as soon as you see it.

Thirdly, frame frame frame frame frame. I’m being the Rhianna of photography here. It’s all well and good getting the couple smiling at each other beautifully but almost useless if you crop them at their necks. When in doubt shoot wide and crop in later. Yes, you get a much nicer bokeh (background blur) when you are zoomed in but again, it’s useless if the photo itself is badly framed.

Just Weddings?

Nope. The below photo was taken at a concert. The rule of keeping your camera up is more or less relevant wherever candid photography is present. The photo below took me standing for 10 minutes and moving to where the singer could not see me. Once I did this I had to wait for him to step perfectly into the middle of the spot light which after the shot he stepped right back out of.

I hope this post was useful — if you have questions for me or anything to add post a response or get in contact with me at arjunmshah93@gmail.com. I’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions.

Arjun.