On Location Portraits–Candid and Posed
August 15, 2013
Ashley + Bryant August 10, 2013
One thing to think about when shooting portraits of couples or individuals is the approach you are going to take; are you going to pose your sitters or are you going to capture them candidly? One of the great things about having a background as a photojournalist is that I’m comfortable with doing both and always shoot both candid and posed portraits at weddings.
As a photojournalist, I love capturing moments that show true spontenaety and emotion, without posing for the camera–it doesn’t get any better than this! But frequently, demands of the job include client requests, time constraints, location issues and more which require posing and directing the subject in order to pull of the shot.
Frankly, I like it both ways and encourage my photography students to experiment with both methods of capturing storytelling portraiture. Below you see the results of these two different approaches from a recent wedding I shot.
The Ashley and Bryant really wanted a photograph with the cross behind them and so we planned to photograph them in front of it accordingly. A nice shot with a little fill light in the late afternoon speaks to their faith. And yet, the spontaneous moment after they exited the sanctuary was priceless–and it was unplanned and unposed–no direction from the photographer at all–just a lot of hustle.
Take advantage of all such methods of capturing the essence of your subjects and you’ll gather a diverse portfolio that shows that you can capture many looks from the same shoot!
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