5 Trending Photography Styles

Choosing your style for your wedding day

Let me guess. Wedding planning is way harder than you anticipated? If you don’t think so, just wait. In a few more months, you might be singing a different tune.

Okay, not everyone will have such a hard time, but the wedding process is definitely not a simple venture. SO MANY OPTIONS, EVERYWHERE. Between choosing the venue, the food, the photographer/videographer, DJ, dress, suits, decorations, floral, etc, anyone can get overwhelmed with how many options are out there.

Choosing your wedding photographer is no different. The problem is, there are so many different options when it comes to photography. You wouldn’t think so, but there are many different things that make each photographer unique. Besides budget, when narrowing down a photographer, you should narrow down your style first.

So let’s get in depth with the trending styles of photography and learn how to find which style best suits your needs. Starting with the basics: What is a photography style? A photographer’s style incorporates how he or she poses (or doesn’t pose), and how they interacts with couples, the environment, and the lighting. In another post, we’ll talk about what they do with their images after the wedding day is over. There are many more styles than I can go through in one blog post, but here are some of the most trending styles on the market today.

 

 

 

Shooting Styles

Traditional

Traditional photographers are exactly what you think of when you think of “typical” wedding photography. Outside of capturing your main events, they like to stick to the traditional “posed” photos. They will direct you exactly how they want you to stand and often ask you to smile at the camera. Some of the popular photos in this category are the “traditional family portraits,” which take place after the ceremony. These pictures are posed in front of the alter with the bridal party and family alike. Despite many of the different shooting styles of photographers, there is a lot who will guarantee the traditional family portraits shot.

Photo-journalistic or Documentary

Both of these photography styles tend to focus on more candid shots, with little to no posing, direction, or cues. This is an unobtrusive capture of the wedding day. They are well-practiced in finding beautiful raw moments that aren’t planned, and use available light as their main source for lighting.

Like these guys from the UK or this family photographer

Artistic/Quirky

This category is more for the not-so-average couples, the ones who want art to be captured on their wedding day. Couples that want to have a photographer who thinks outside the box with them and captures their wild-at-heart souls. Art-led photographers might incorporate tools to create unique images, such as prisms or light reflectors. They look for unique lighting situations or bring in their own lights. These photographers are a great mix of posed and candid and the beautiful combinations.

An example: Broomfield Photo

Dramatic/ Editorial

“Editorial” is a word that is thrown around in the photography world a lot, but what does it actually mean? These are the type of images that you see in a publication: Think, the cover of a high-end magazine. An article in Vogue or another high-end fashion magazine. They are usually very dramatic in lighting and posing, and have a more serious tone or emotion. They play off the environment around them, so a sophisticated location is typical.

Matt Kennedy has good examples!

Adventure

A new trend in the photography industry are “Adventure Sessions.” These tend to be a mix of photo-journalistic and artistic, using a dramatic landscape or scenery as the backdrop. This is for the couples that want to get married at the top of a remote mountain, inside a treehouse in the jungle, or while suspended over a canyon like this couple did.

The Hearnes are a popular adventure photography team!

What style am I?

Danielle Durbin photography is something of a mix between a traditional photographer and a photojournalist. There are times throughout the wedding day where I feel direction is needed. Sometimes all it takes is turning a bride towards the window for better lighting, or telling the groom to take one step left so there’s not a garbage can behind him. I use the environment around me and maximize it for the best lighting and scenes. Sometimes brides and grooms need minor adjustments to their poses in order to look their very best self. Most people don’t feel 100% natural in front of the camera and I feel it’s my job to give them cues to feel more at ease and to later be happy with the images we made.

However, I also know there are moments that are better left alone. Moments when I need to just be a fly on the wall, capturing things as they happen. This is why I love wedding days – I get a mix of both styles!

I would guess there are a lot of photographers that consider themselves some type of mix between all of the above. That’s why next week I’ll talk about the other factor involved with choosing your wedding photographer: Editing Styles!