Understanding Composition in Documentary Wedding Photography
Most people know when they like a photograph. Not photographs of themselves, for we are all too vain to see beyond our own image. But landscapes, street photography or photographs of your friends. Fewer people understand what it is about a photograph that makes it pleasing on the eye. Sometimes it’s just a feeling you get, the atmosphere of a moment, an expression. Other times theres a more tangible reason – some great light, or symmetrical geometry. Composition in documentary wedding photography is an important element in delivering an interesting set of images.
The best Documentary Wedding Photographers will use one or many techniques when photographing a wedding, to produce stunning photography that ‘just works’. Sometimes these techniques can be learned, sometimes photographers just have a good eye. But by combining perfect moments with great light and some compositional tools, the quality of the photography is lifted.
Great Photographers Instinctively Know When A Composition Comes Together
This photograph is from Kate and Kelly’s London Wedding. The bridal party and guests were walking from the ceremony in Hackney Town Hall, through London Fields. I’d been waiting for the bridal party to pass this point, as the building behind is where their very first flat together was. Paying attention to these kind of details can make a subtle difference to what’s included in the photography. Everyone is walking at a pretty brisk pace, and I noticed the shadows being cast on the wall. I stopped and waited for Kate and her sister to pass. There’s many leading lines and triangles in this picture. I would not have been conscious of the way that several compositional elements were falling into place at once, but experience would have told me where to position myself, and when to press the shutter.
