THE LITTLE THINGS by THE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER IN LISBON

Photos of the bride’s make-up for the wedding day at Vila Galé Collection Palácio dos Arcos

• Pode ler este artigo em Português. 

Detail and Wedding Photography

A word often heard among those who work with weddings—be it in photography, decoration, or entertainment—shows it can hold great importance in the whole that is the wedding day. The word is detail. The way to tell this day through photography is very cinematic.

If instead of the film we had access to the storyboard that gave rise to it, we would find a story made of wide shots, reverse shots, or the close-up of a face that lets us soak in all the emotion being lived by the character.

Detail brings joy to the wedding photographer

Now, a wedding is no different—at least not in the way I see it. My lenses wander through the scenes according to an unwritten storyboard that the wedding photographer keeps adjusting, depending on the importance of what is unfolding.

Details are one of those points of interest we must pay attention to. Sometimes it’s just a fleeting moment that escapes if not captured quickly; other times, we have all the time in the world to wait for the perfect timing. We can even try different approaches that often reveal themselves gradually as the wedding photographer explores them. Yes, detail brings joy.

Point by point:

• The wedding photographer sees the wedding day as if it were the shooting plan for a film:
  • There’s a kind of script—the parts of the wedding and how they unfold
  • The photographer captures it:
    • With wide shots showing the space
    • Using reverse angles to emphasize the characters
    • With close-ups of the main characters’ faces:
      • The bride and groom
      • The family members
    • And with supporting characters:
      • Friends
      • Wedding guests in general
      • Ceremony officiants
      • Party entertainers
• All of them are capable of offering one of the main ingredients in wedding photography:
  • The details:
    • Of objects
    • Of the bride’s bouquet
    • Of the hairstyle
    • The boutonnière or handkerchief on the groom’s lapel
    • The decoration at the ceremony or party venue
• There are so many places where the wedding photographer can find details that help season the other photographs that tell the wedding story.

You need to know:

• Without them, the story of the wedding day would not be well told. Imagine a culinary dish without the small amounts of seasoning that give it the final touch to dazzle the palate. To write, edit, and piece together that story, we need linking elements that, here and there, provide importance to some, connect to the next chapter, and even help close the story.

• Looking from afar and showing only the wedding photographs with everything inside them leaves out the detail of the hairstyle, the delicacy of the earring, the scent of the bride’s bouquet, or the gesture of applying lipstick. These small but important details are what make all the wedding photos work together as a whole and tell the story of what took place.

• That’s one more reason why I enjoy photographing weddings—and it doesn’t exhaust my favorite subjects. On a day like this, the photographer can use their lenses and cameras for almost every genre of photography:
  • You can be a photojournalist, capturing the unfolding of events
  • A portraitist
  • Do architectural photography of the wedding spaces
  • Photograph objects:
    • The ones that adorn the bride and groom:
      • The rings, bracelets, earrings, tie…
    • At the ceremony location
    • On the dining tables
    • Or on any of the guests

• Maybe that’s why I continue photographing weddings and consider myself a complete photographer in doing so. During the first part of my professional life, it was objects that filled my time as I photographed them. After a while, despite the challenges they presented in terms of composition, lighting, and how best to showcase them, it became monotonous.

• That’s why, when I arrive at a wedding, I still have them—they occupy a small part of my time—but now I have all the other genres to explore. What could be better for a photographer who can’t see themselves doing anything else? Today, I call them details because they are parts of other things that draw attention to the ones they belong to, and for the wedding photographer, they’re excellent photographic exercises.

I will find many details to photograph at your wedding and turn them into the connecting elements in the story I will tell in your wedding album. Come and see how they look during a meeting, where we can talk about your wedding.

• You can see a full wedding story:

• In Vila Galé Collection Palácio dos Arcos Paço de Arcos, Oeiras, Portugal