Do it yourself tip - The portraits

So I get it. In this economic climate, when it comes to choosing a wedding photographer, you may well choose Uncle Joe instead of the pricey professional.  After all, Uncle Joe's got a nice new digital SLR camera and he's taken some good shots recently.  And he's free! 

If you choose to go this route, my "Do it yourself" blogs will become very important for you - and Uncle Joe!  They're designed with the novice in mind and will help your family member or friend photographer understand how to work his/her new camera under various conditions.  I'll be bringing to bear all my years shooting bay area wedding photography and distilling my techniques down to simple steps.

In this tip, we're talking portraits.  Now portraits may seem like the simplest part of the wedding photography.  After all, everyone's standing still - like these guys!

But they're not quite as simple as they may appear.  Here are a few tips that will make your portraits look great:

1. Don't stand too close!  When shooting portraits, you should make sure your lens is set to 50mm focal length or greater.  Standing too close will mean you'll need to reduce the focal length of the lens (say, down to 35) to get everyone in the view finder - and that'll distort everyone.
2. Pick a spot in the shade!  This is really important.  People can't smile when looking at the bright sun.  And photos look awful when the mid-day sun is on top of everyone's head.
3. Shoot in manual mode and set the aperture setting at 4.5 or higher.  You'll need to do this to make sure you expose the picture correctly.  This is especially true when shooting the bride and groom because they usually have really contrasty clothes (eg., she's in white, he's in black).  Take some test shots to get the exposure just right.  Then just keep these settings in place.
4. Shoot with an "under-powered" flash.  This means your flash, when set in TTL mode, needs to be turned down about 1 EV (read up on your flash manual - it'll explain how to do this).

That should do it.  Now just shoot away.  And be sure to take multiple shots to make sure everyone's eyes are open in at least one! ; ) 

About Lucky Shot Studios:
Lucky Shot Studios is a wedding photographer specializing in artistic wedding photography with a photo journalistic style.  If you're in the process of choosing a wedding photographer, Lucky Shot Studios would love be considered.