Find out which Wedding Photography Style matches you

Planning your wedding photography becomes much easier when you know what styles you like and get input on a photographer. When you want to find a style, it can be hard to know which direction to go. I have a great piece of advice – analyse your social media profile. Specifically, take a look at your Instagram or Pinterest feedback and find which styles you appear drawn to the most.

In this article we will be checking the different options to look for in a photographer.

Documentary Style

Some of the most touching & memorable photos are candid and documentary-style, that’s why many photographers have developed a photojournalistic style. These journalists approach photographers with a journalistic eye, capturing moments as they happen with the care of a photojournalist.

If you’re not comfortable posing, photojournalistic coverage of your wedding would be perfect. Photojournalists document the event with no added emphasis or manipulations.

You can see full French wedding story here.

Editorial Wedding Photography

For wedding photos with an editorial style, the photographer is looking for photos that have a clean and planned aesthetic. A lot of focus goes into lighting, angle, and composition to create the perfect image.

Subjects are meant to look like professional models. This is why they stand and pose in a perfect way. In spite of this, they always seem genuine and real enough – thanks to the photographer’s hard work.He or she will often try to take some memorable, bigger-than-life photos that represent their subjects well.

Imagine all the photos for a magazine wedding – like the rings, decorations, the dress hanging up, couple portraits…. All of it has been shot perfectly with even lighting and crisp detail.

Having a wedding photographer is vital to capturing amazing memories of the moment, but editorial wedding photographers also know how to pose you and use staging to your advantage without making it feel staged.

You can check this south of France wedding here.

Traditional Wedding Photography

Traditional wedding photographers are the perfect choice for couples with a predetermined shot list. A full photo coverage of your big day, including: bridal portraits featuring a long train at some point, wide-angle shots of you & your love with your bridesmaids in the cathedral and lots of classic staged portraits. Traditional wedding photographer will also take care to take plenty of variation shots with family members and any other personality traits that you may have.

See this beautiful Dordogne wedding here.

Black and White wedding photography

Black and white wedding snaps are really all about editing style, although some photographers do happen to use black and white cameras. Generally, most wedding photographers – offer some images in black and white too. Black and white photographs are usually much more emotional and can also be a good choice if you don’t have enough light in the room. From my personal experience, I usually make 10 – 20% of images in black and white from the whole wedding.

I have explained more in the details about this photography style in my article Black and White wedding photography.