Anna Kuperberg: Los mejores consejos para fotógrafos de boda

Como yo os fuí adelantando durante el día de ayer, aquí tenéis el texto íntegro y en versión original en inglés del artículo que Anna Kuperberg publicó en su blog hace unos meses con, en palabras textuales de ella, "los mejores consejos que ha dado jamás a los fotógrafos de boda". 

No tienen una sola palabra superflua, podemos considerar muchos consejos como obvios pero no siempre los tenemos en cuenta y... son palabra de Anna, impagables.

La versión traducida al castellano la podéis leer en mi blog profesional clicando aquí: Manel Tamayo Wedding Photography's pro blog

Me hubiera gustado ilustrar el post con fotos de invitados como hizo en su día Anna Kuperberg pero no me parece correcto ni legal hacerlo con sus fotos, ni tampoco me parece bien poner fotos de mi archivo ya que el trabajo y los consejos son de ella y yo me he limitado a compartirlo y traducirlo para que pueda servir de ayuda a muchos compañeros fotógrafos o aficionados a la fotografía de bodas de habla hispana.

Anna Kuperberg is an award winning ISPWP member based in San Francisco. Anna shoots weddings, portraits, and dogs and has been published in Martha Stewart, PDN, PPA, InStyle, Real Simple, and People Magazine. She was named one of the top 10 photographers of the year by American Photo Magazine in 2009. Anna also teaches wedding and portrait photography through her Kuperskool photography workshops.

My best piece of advice ever:

Shoot the guests! That is my best advice ever if you want to avoid complaints. 99% of complaints about wedding photography is that there are not enough photos of guests. I love getting nice happy photos of guests. Here’s why:

1. I get these photos when nothing else is happening. I mean nothing. They are sitting at the tables between courses. Or it’s cocktail hour. It’s not a time when I’m missing a great moment.

2. If someone is invited to the wedding, they’re important. I assume the couple wants a photo of them. Yes, a brilliant photojournalistic moment of each guest would be even more phenomenal, but without that, get a nice happy smiling photo of as many guests as possible and that is already phenomenal.

3. I was once a guest at a wedding where the couple invited a state senator. Guess who was not in a single photo? The senator. The photographer did not recognize the senator, who looked just like an older lady sitting alone, not with the family. She had not been introduced. The couple simply did not think to tell the photographer who the senator was. They were disappointed later. What should you do as a photographer? (A) Complain that your clients didn’t specifically request a photo of the senator, or (B) Pretend that every guest at the wedding is a senator and take their photo?

4. If I were a guest at a wedding, I would want a photo of myself. If it’s a brilliant photojournalistic moment, I’d be thrilled. But if it’s just flattering and happy, I’d also be thrilled.

5. If you do not cover many guests, you might not hear about it from the bride. She just might silently not send the link out to all the guests because she’s worried they’ll be hurt that they’re not represented. You might never know. The bride who complains to you is the fourth or fifth one who’s actually unhappy.

6. You need to meet all the guests. It’s your job to get them to relax and smile in a semi-posed photo. Don’t ignore them because they’re quiet and just sitting at the table. Talk to them.

Here are my tips to photographing guests:

1. Photograph the guests during downtime. Between courses. During cocktail hour. Sometimes, as they’re arriving to the wedding. If there is a buffet, get them standing in line, they’re usually right next to their date, which brings me to:

2. Always get photos of people in couples. If they didn’t bring a date, get a bunch of friends together. Most people don’t want a photo of themselves alone, unless it’s something exceptional like a great moment.

3. You can also shoot guests throughout the day– during the ceremony maybe. Shoot the great ceremony shots, then get quickly a couple of shots of guests. Especially if they look really emotional. Same during toasts. Go all around the room and get all the reaction shots. Is someone holding on to their date and laughing? That’s the shot. Don’t stay on the bride and groom the whole time, you covered them enough and so did your second shooter.

4. This is the one and only situation where I prefer a zoom lens.

5. Don’t be too proud to do this. It should not compromise any of your creative stuff. It will compromise your long leisurely dinner though.

6. Use off-camera flash, drag the shutter a little. Do not shoot this type of photo at f 1.4 please. F4 or F5 is already shallow enough.

7. Don’t get messy half eaten food plates in the photo. Get in tight.

8. Tell them to scoot their chairs together really close, so they don’t have to lean so far.

9. You will need to learn to crack jokes and put people at ease. Most people do not like having their photo taken. If you’re a PJ style shooter, you might be shy about this. Just pretend you’re Sergio.

OK that’s about it. Have fun! It’s so much easier to prevent complaints than to deal with them later. This will prevent 99% of complaints, and on top of that all the guests will say how nice you are!