HOW TO DO GROUP, FAMILY, AND BRIDAL PARTY
HOW TO DO GROUP, FAMILY, AND BRIDAL PARTY PHOTOS
The hardest part is deciding to begin. After that you just make it happen.
Preparation
During your meeting with clients, explain to them that on the day you will look for locations for the photos to take place. This is something you will only be able to do on the day as it all depends on the weather and lighting conditions. Ideally, the venue will have suitable locations for the photos (shaded areas with nice even lighting). If the venue doesn’t have that, see the examples at the end of this lesson for tips on what to do.
The group, family and bridal party photos take place after the ceremony. It is very important that they get done as quickly as possible so that you can get on with the couple photoshoot before the reception begins. Getting them done quickly is not about working quicker when the time comes, it is more about you educating your clients on what they need to do, in advance, to make sure things run smoothly. If they do that, then your job is easy when the time comes.
Things to say to the clients beforehand:
● The MC, or the person who is conducting the wedding ceremony, must make an announcement to the guests before or after the ceremony to inform them of the proceedings. For example, after the ceremony, all the guests must be outside for the confetti throwing, and after that then make their way over to the lawn for the group photograph which will be followed by family photos.
After the family photos, you are then welcome to congratulate the couple and enjoy some of the pre-drinks and canapés.
● If the weather and lighting allow for a choice of locations for the group and family photos then you can ask the Bride & Groom which location they would prefer, or you can just choose where you think will look best.
● The Bride & Groom must prepare a list of all the different family/guest photos they want to have taken after the group photo. Some clients want lots of different combinations with their family, others only want a few. You can let them decide how many they want. However, tell them that it usually takes about 1 minute per photo, so if they want 20 different photos taken then they must make sure to leave you 20 minutes to do it. The list should then be given to the MC. They can also give a copy of the list to the Bridesmaids and Groomsmen so that they can help gather the people for each photo - this will just speed things up even more.
● They must decide in advance how long they want to do the Bridal Party Photos (Bride & Groom with all their Bridesmaids and Groomsmen). Some couples just want a few and other like to have a lot. It doesn’t matter how many they do, the important thing is that they plan and leave enough time.
● If the Bride & Groom want to have some time to relax after the family photos to mingle with the guests and have something to eat and drink then they need to plan and make time for it. From the moment the day begins until this point they will have been constantly busy so it is good for them to take a break and actually enjoy their wedding and time with their guests. It is also a great opportunity for you to get some casual photos of them as they walk around, chat and laugh with their guests. They can only do this if everything is running on time and that can only be determined on the day. If things are running late then you will decide if there if there is time for them to do it.
Group photo
Most clients will want a group photo of them with all of their guests. Taking a photo of 50 or 300 people actually requires the same amount of work and takes about the same amount of time. All you have to do is control the first small group of people and the rest will follow what they are doing. You don’t have to be loud and jumping around to get people’s attention. It is all about managing the flow of the crowd.
Here’s how to do it...
As soon as the confetti-throwing is done, the guests will all want to go and congratulate the Bride & Groom. If this happens at that point you could be waiting a long time for them to be done, meanwhile some guests will start to wander off, especially if there is food and drinks for them. To prevent this, go to the Bride & Groom immediately after the confetti throwing and lead them over to where the group photo will be taking place. Most, if not all, couples want to do it that way as
they want to get the family photos out the way as soon as possible. It’s all about being efficient.
As mentioned before, you will have already told the MC as to where the group photo is taking place and they should’ve by now informed the guests. So, at this point, people may be making their way over to where the group photo is happening. What you do next will depend on what type of group photo you are taking, but mainly there are two types: one where all the woman stand in line at the front and all the men stand in a line behind them, and the other where you are shooting down from a higher position and everyone is grouped together. You will see examples of these at the end of the lesson. The first one is the most common as most venues don’t have somewhere high up to stand and shoot down from.
The first thing to do is place the Bride & Groom in position (front and centre). Then stop the first wave of people from walking over. When you do that everyone else will stop behind them. Then invite all the women to come over first and tell them to form one line on either side of the couple. Take the first few people and tell them exactly where to stand and tell them to turn slightly towards the middle (towards the Bride & Groom) - doing so will create more space. You will notice at this point that the others will follow suit and begin to fall into position. If some of them stand at the back you just tell them to come to the side so that you end up with just one straight line. This really doesn’t take long if you do it this way. You can’t hang around at this point; you need to be firm - but, always friendly - in order to get people into position. If you need help you can always explain to the MC what you are trying to do and ask them to help you. You will see examples of this at the end of this lesson.
When all the women are in position, you can invite the men to come over and stand behind them. As they do so, walk the line and tell the men to position their heads so that they are in between the heads of the women standing in front of them. That way at least everyone’s head can be seen in the photos. In an ideal situation the
ground that the men are standing on will be higher than the women but not all venues have that and you just have to work with what you have got.
Some photographers take a step ladder with them to take the group photo. The reason for this is because if you are standing at ground-level you may not be able to see some of the shorter people at the back. Standing on a ladder, or higher ground, will enable you to shoot down and see the people more clearly.
The most important thing when doing the group photo is to get it done quickly.
Guests may be hungry and thirsty at this point so you don’t want to be taking up too much of their time. It should only take about 10 minutes to do this.
When everyone is ready, you can take three variations of photos: one where everyone is smiling at the camera, one where the Bride & Groom kiss and everyone looks towards them, and one with everyone waving to the camera. This is the only point where you may have to raise your voice to instruct everyone what to do. Take a few photos of each variation so you can choose the best one later. You can do different variations if you want to, there are no rules.
When you’re done - and while you still have everyone’s attention - announce to them that the family photos will now take place and tell them where that is happening. At this point, everyone will congratulate the couple for a few minutes and you can get some nice photos of them doing that.
If you are unfamiliar with managing large crowds of people don’t worry. Remember, people will always follow what the other people are doing, so all you have to focus on is getting the first people into position and the others will quickly realise what it is that you want them to do. As you are positioning people, continually tell them what it is that you are wanting them to do, and walk along the line telling everyone.
This is why it isn’t necessary to raise your voice; it is all about informing the people.
Getting good at this kind of thing is all about practise; the more you do it the more confident you will become.
Family photos
Normally the couple are keen to get on with the family photos immediately after the group photo. If so, position the couple where you want them to stand. The MC
has the list of photo combinations and they will bring over the people for each photo.
If you are taking a photo of a small group (5-10 people) just have one straight line. If it’s a bigger group do what you did with the group photo; woman at the front, men at the back. Always take three or four photos for each combination because you always get people blinking and if you take a few you should get one where everyone’s eyes are open. If you’re worried about it you can take more. You can do horizontal or vertical photos, but usually horizontal is best so that you can see everyone in better detail, but what you will do often depends on the location available. For example, you may not have a great space to work with and unwanted objects may be in the side of you shot if you shoot horizontally and therefore vertical may work better for you. Again, see examples at the end of the lesson.
When you do the group photo you may not notice, and it probably won’t matter if someone’s tie is squint or their necklace is out of line. But, when it comes time for the family photos things like that will be easily noticed in the photos. So, before you take a photo try to have a quick look over everyone and if something catches your attention mention it to them - people really like it when you do that and will be impressed by your attention to detail. For example, some people forget that they are wearing sunglasses or that they have their phone in their hand, or they don’t know that their shirt is untucked. With phones and pieces of paper always tell them to hide it. But with things like sunglasses you don’t know if they are wearing them
for medical reasons or whether they want to have them on so always just suggest to the group that they can choose to have their sunglasses on or off, this way you will have at least done your part of the job by mentioning it. The last thing you want is for people to say later, “why didn’t you tell us?”.
Bridal Party photos
When the family photos are done, the next thing will be the Bridal Party photos (Bride & Groom with all the Bridesmaids and Groomsmen together). These photos are less formal than the family photos and are more similar to the couple photoshoot where you can move around between locations.
Keep it simple and just choose two or maybe three locations fairly close to one another. The Bride & Groom couple photoshoot is the most important part so you don’t want to spend too much time moving around with the Bridal Party photos and use up all the best locations on them - you want to save those for the couple photoshoot.
The people that make up the Bridal Party are usually the closest friends of the couple. They are usually wanting to have fun and you can experiment more with the kind of photos you want to do. You can plan in advance the kind of photos you want to do (search online for ideas or see photo examples below) but often you will get ideas in the moment when you see how they are interacting with each other.
Again, there are no rules.
It is good to do some photos of the Bride alone with her Bridesmaids and the Groom alone with his Groomsmen. The ideal time to do this would be immediately after they are finished getting ready because they look their best at that point, and because it saves time later on. But, it isn’t always possible to do it then if things are running late. If so, you will need to do it during the Bridal Party photos.
The Bridal Party photos usually take about 15-20 minutes. The exact amount of time you spend will depend on how the day has gone so far. If things have run late then you may have to do less Bridal Party shots. It is something you can only decide on the day. It is important that you have enough time for the couple photoshoot.
Time with guests
If you have ever been to a few weddings you have probably heard people complaining about how the Bride & Groom disappeared for a long time to do their photoshoot and all the guests were bored waiting around for them to return. This is less to do with the photographers’ demands and more to do with how the Bride & Groom planned out their day. But, if you follow the tips in this lesson not only will you avoid those kinds of complaints but they will actually work in your favour. The guests will recommend you because they will be able to compare how efficient you are compared to the experiences they had at other weddings. You will be able to assist your clients in planning their wedding day efficiently. And, this means great photos as well as lots of time to actually enjoy being with their guests.
It is good, after the family photos, for the couple to get a drink and spend some time chatting with their guests before the Bridal Party photos. It also gives you the opportunity to get some nice photos of them laughing and talking with their guests.
It may not be possible to do this if previous parts of the wedding were delayed and you are now short of time before the reception. If it can be done you should really make time for it because you will want them to be happy and enjoy their day. It also puts them in a great mood for doing their couple photoshoot because they’ve had time to relax. Whether it actually happens or not will be decided by you on the day, because even if they have planned for it, if the wedding is running late there may be no time, or less time than they hoped. All you can do is suggest to them what you recommend. For example, if after the family photos you only have 1 hour until the reception begins because things have been delayed, then it is your job to say tell the couple how much time you need for the photos. They must then choose what is most important to them.
When you first begin you will probably be overshooting and taking more time than is necessary to do each thing. But, as you become more confident and familiar with doing weddings you will find that you can produce great results in less time. This will free up more time for your clients to be with their guests.
Camera settings
This section is included in many of the lessons to help people who don’t yet know how to use their camera settings.
Many photographers will have different ways of shooting but, this will teach you, in a very basic way, how to use your camera settings. You may find other ways that you prefer but, this will assist you in getting started.
● Shoot with your camera settings on ‘auto white balance’.
● Lenses and cameras should always be set to ‘auto focus’.
● Set your camera to focus using a ‘single focus point’.
It should look something like this through the viewfinder of your camera...
...you can see the single focus point in the middle of the frame.
When taking a photo you will aim the focus point at the part of the subject you want to be in focus (e.g. the Bride’s face). You will squeeze the shutter-release button to lock the focus - but don’t press it down to take the photo yet. Now you can frame the shot and take the photo. The focus will still be set to what you initially locked it on. See examples below...
Here is a view through the viewfinder. The single focus point is aimed at the Groom (so that he will be in focus). The Bride is standing next to him, the same distance away, so she will also be in focus. The shutter-release button is then gently squeezed down to lock the focus.
Now that the focus is locked on the Groom and the shutter-release button is still held in - but not pressed down fully yet - you can move the camera around to frame the shot you want to take.
Now you can frame the photo as you want to take it and go ahead and press the shutter-release button down to take the photo.
You will notice here that the focus point is now on the background and not over the Groom, but because it is locked the focus doesn’t change when you take the photo.
Exposure
Shoot with your camera on ‘manual mode’ . What this means is that you will manually select the settings (aperture, shutter speed and ISO) before taking a photo. If you have never done this, don’t worry, it will be explained simply.
Using manual mode should not be confused with manual focusing. Your lens and camera should still be set to auto-focus.
When you take a photo, all you are really doing with the settings is adjusting them so that the exposure is correct; the photo is not too dark or too bright.
Aperture
A low aperture lets more light into the camera. So, if you want your photo to be brighter set it lower (e.g. 1.4) or if you want it darker set it higher (e.g. 5.6).
A low aperture will produce more depth of field (blurred background). A higher aperture will reduce that.
Shutter speed
A fast shutter speed will allow less light into the camera than a slow shutter speed.
If you want your photo to be brighter set a slower speed (e.g. 1/250). If you want it to be darker set a faster speed (e.g. 1/800).
If the subject is moving a slow shutter speed may make them appear blurry, whereas a faster shutter speed will snap that photo quicker and capture them as they move. So you never want to be too slow with the shutter speed at weddings.
Probably not slower than 1/250.
ISO
Setting your ISO higher will brighten your photo. This is used mostly when you are shooting in low-light conditions. However, the higher it goes the less sharp your photo will become and the quality of the image will decrease. All cameras produce different results so you really need to test it and check the photos on a computer afterwards to see the results.
It is usually advised to keep the ISO as low as possible at all times (100) when shooting in bright/light environments. However, even when the light is good, setting it at 200 can slightly brighten any areas of shadows. So, if you are finding that the shadow areas of your photos are too dark you can try that to brighten them a little.
Here’s a quick summary
When you are about to take a photo, the first thing you want to ask yourself is
‘ How much depth of field (blurred background) do I want to have?’.
If you want to have a lot then you may have your aperture set to 1.4. If so, that setting is also going to make the photo brighter because it is letting more light into the camera. Therefore you are probably going to have to make your shutter speed higher (e.g. 1/800) to darken the photo.
If you want to have less blur then you may have your aperture set to something like 5.6. If so, that setting is going to make the photo darker as less light will be going into the camera. Therefore you may have to reduce your shutter (e.g. 1/250) to make the photo brighter. Or you could instead increase the ISO to make it brighter.
But, basically, the ISO is mainly used as a backup to make your photo brighter when the area you are shooting in doesn’t have enough natural light.
Photo examples
The challenge for a wedding photographer is to avoid harsh sunlight. So, you are always looking for shaded areas to shoot in. But, that isn’t always possible. Below you will find examples and tips to making it work regardless of the conditions.
This was the ideal situation for a group photo; lots of space and a platform for the people at the back to stand on. And, the entire area was shaded from the sun, which was shining on the left side behind the building.
Focal Length: 24mm
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter speed: 1/400 sec
ISO: 400
This photo was taken while standing up on the first-floor balcony of a building.
Some photographers use a ladder to achieve this. This venue didn’t have a great shaded area to do a group photo. When that happens you just have to make the most of what you have.
Focal Length: 35mm
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter speed: 1/200 sec
ISO: 250
This wedding was on the beach and there was no hiding from the sun. In an instance like this, have everyone standing with their backs to the sun. Try to position the sun out of your shot as much as possible.
Focal Length: 27mm
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter speed: 1/2500 sec
ISO: 100
You can see that all the women are standing at the front and the men standing behind them with their heads in between the women so that you can at least see everyone’s faces. You can also see that by telling everyone to stand with their bodies turned towards the centre (the Bride & Groom) it allows them to stand closer to each other - something you have to do with large groups of people.
Focal Length: 24mm
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter speed: 1/400 sec
ISO: 320
You can see that it was a sunny day here and some sunlight was coming through the trees. But, by having them stand with their backs to the sun, the light on them is even because they are shaded from this side. It is important to keep the sun out of the shot otherwise it will come into the lens and be too much for the camera to handle and focus.
Focal Length: 50mm
Aperture: f/1.4
Shutter speed: 1/320 sec
ISO: 1600
Sometimes, if the venue doesn’t have an ideal spot for family photos, you have to improvise.
Focal Length: 22mm
Aperture: f/3.5
Shutter speed: 1/400 sec
ISO: 500
This was also a sunny day. Again, they are standing with their backs to the sun so that the lighting is even on their faces shooting from this side.
With family photos, you can also do close-up shots like this if you want to. You can see that the framing of the shot is just above their knees. You can either step closer or zoom if your lens can do it. If you do a shot like this you should also do a full-body shot where you can see their entire body/all of their clothes.
Focal Length: 38mm
Aperture: f/3.5
Shutter speed: 1/320 sec
ISO: 640
You can do a vertical shot like this if you prefer. It is always useful when you have steps and the people at the back can stand up on them and be easily seen.
Focal Length: 17mm
Aperture: f/4.5
Shutter speed: 1/400 sec
ISO: 320
If you have a second photographer, or if you have time to do it after the family photos, it is nice to get shots of the guests enjoying themselves and congratulating the couple.
You can approach people and take photos as they are enjoying themselves. Who knows, perhaps they are engaged and looking for a photographer. And, they will remember the friendly photographer that came by and took their photo.
Focal Length: 50mm
Aperture: f/1.4
Shutter speed: 1/250 sec
ISO: 200
You can capture moments as they happen.
Focal Length: 22mm
Aperture: f/5
Shutter speed: 1/400 sec
ISO: 200
You can take photos of the snacks on offer.
Focal Length: 50mm
Aperture: f/1.4
Shutter speed: 1/200 sec
ISO: 125
And special moments with loved ones.
Focal Length: 50mm
Aperture: f/1.4
Shutter speed: 1/200 sec
ISO: 250
You can take photos of some of the couples there. Who knows, they may just end up booking you when it’s their time to get married - and, this is exactly what happened with this couple.
Focal Length: 70mm
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter speed: 1/200 sec
ISO: 250
You can see it was a sunny day here, so the building was used to block the sun. The result is nice even light on the people.
Focal Length: 35mm
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter speed: 1/250 sec
ISO: 200
Bridal party photos can be less formal than the family photos. If the people want to have fun, then have fun with the photos.
Focal Length: 33mm
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter speed: 1/200 sec
ISO: 320
You can do some photos of the women alone.
Focal Length: 50mm
Aperture: f/1.4
Shutter speed: 1/250 sec
ISO: 200
And some photos of the men alone.
Focal Length: 22mm
Aperture: f/4.5
Shutter speed: 1/400 sec
ISO: 320
You can do whatever kinds of photos you want, there are no rules.
Focal Length: 35mm
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter speed: 1/500 sec
ISO: 160
You can do a photo of the Bride alone with each of her Bridesmaids. And, you can do the same with the Groom and his Groomsmen.
Focal Length: 52mm
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter speed: 1/500 sec
ISO: 160
Lesson summary
Doing the group photo is all about being organised and efficient. By having the MC
make an announcement during the ceremony to inform the guest as to the proceedings and as to where the group photo will be taking place, you will have already saved a lot of time. By doing the photo immediately after the confetti-throwing you can get it done quickly before the guests wander off. You must be firm and friendly in order to get it done. Remember, if you need help you can always ask the MC to assist you in telling the people what to do.
With the family photos it is important that the couple create a list of all the different combinations they want. They can then give that list to the MC and the Groomsmen and Bridesmaids. Between all of them they should know all of the guests. They can gather the people then all you have to do is take the photos - easy!
The Bridal Party photos is where the fun really begins; they are less formal than the family photos and you can move around to different locations. The Bride & Groom are usually really excited at this point and having a great time being with their closest friends, so now you can really let your creativity loose.
Congratulations! You have completed this lesson.