This a is a really cool question because as well as photographers understand all the descriptions used to describe the different ways of shooting a wedding, if you’re new to all this jargon, you’ll find a lot of the terms quite disorientating.
No one short and snappy description really exists for the broad range of image styles and techniques we use to capture them, but below you’ll find a somewhat more considered analysis of how it all comes together.
Reportage / Wedding Photojournalism (WPJ) / Documentary Style / Fly-On-The-Wall
All these essentially mean the same thing and that is that the photographer captures what’s going on without offering direction in any way. 80-90% of the images you receive from the day will have been shot using this ethos.
If a photographer markets themselves as one of these, they’re not really telling you what they will do, as much as what they don’t.
Pretty much all modern wedding photographers shoot most of their images in this style, and we are no exception.
If you’d like us to shoot your wedding exclusively in this style with no direction whatsoever, we can do exactly that for you as well.
Traditional Groups
Most couples like to recognise a little tradition in the record of their day and group shots including family are friends can be a lot of fun.
We keep it lively and move through as quickly as we can so as not to stall your day too much.
We understand that some guests really aren’t too keen on this sort of thing, so if we feel that might be ‘a thing’ we make it known that we understand that everyone wants to party and that we won’t keep them hanging around too long.
When the ceremony and reception venues are different, we generally shoot smaller family groups at the ceremony location and then larger groups including friends at the reception venue.
But all photography is made to fit the schedule of events in any case.
Portraiture
Whenever we’re asked to, we love to attend ‘Bridal Prep’, or ‘Bride at Home’.
This allows us to capture not only the ‘goings on’ at the ‘getting ready’ location in a WPJ style but also when the time allows to make some wonderful portraits of the bride in her dress.
Also when the drinks reception is underway, it offers a great opportunity to briefly leave the party and make some great portraits of both the bride and groom around the environment of the reception venue.
If there is a separate ceremony location and we have enough time, we can also explore the possibilities there as well.
Natural/Available Light
Many photographers market themselves as Natural Light Photographers.
This means that they tend not to use flash.
We find that following this model tends to limit the quality of some types of images
While we tend not to use flash all the time, shooting with the light that’s already there, especially during the ceremony, we do understand how and when to use flash effectively when it’s required.
Spontaneous Group Portraits
While not an actual genre, these usually occur during our normal WPJ duties at the reception and are a lot of fun.
Basically what we’re saying is, if a guest decides they rather like the idea of a picture of themselves, and a friend, and their brother, and his girlfriend, and her cat, we’re really happy to come out of ninja mode for a minute and do that for them.
Candid Guest Portraits
Again, while not an actual recognised style, perhaps more a subgenre of WPJ, closeups of your guests in between courses engaged in conversation or cracking up over a joke are images that reveal an intimate side of your day that you perhaps may not otherwise be aware of. We love these, and try to get at least one of as many of the guests as we can.