Wedding Blog

Today’s guest Shutterbug is Matt Antonino, a freestyle national wedding photographer for Picture Infinity Studios based in Syracuse, NY.

There are almost as many photographic styles as there are photographers. That being said, you can typically categorize any photographer you see into one of five categories:

1. Photojournalist - although the buzzword is “slightly” overused among new photographers, there are many great photojournalistic wedding photographers. Usually the photojournalist will seek to be unobtrusive, not a part of the event at all, and set on capturing moments, not details. The true PJ photographer is more interested in your mom crying than in the lace on your dress. The true photojournalist may look on Photoshop and image editing as “distorting reality.” This style is also called Editorial or Documentary. Famous example: Denis Reggie.

2. Traditional - This style of photographer is into classic lighting, using umbrellas and setup lighting at the church. Photographs shot by the traditionalist are often posed shots of the bride or bride & groom. The traditional photographer aims to take a similar set of images, though not the exact same shots, at each wedding. Traditional photographers do traditional poses - the flowers on the bride’s dress, bride looking down at her bouquet, rings over the bouquet. Famous example: Hanson Fong.

3. Artistic - the artist/photographer is into creating light, creating imagery and making new, interesting and sometimes off-the-wall photos. The artist/photographer will get very involved with his or her flash, the sunlight, reflectors, etc. to ensure that the light is what they want to see in the final product. The true artist photographer is not a photojournalist in that Photoshop is the artist’s friend. The image is all that matters. Famous example: JW Wedding Life.

4. Freestyle - The freestyle photographer captures “the image that needs taking” at any given moment. Whether it’s the posed formal, your dad giving you away and crying as he goes to his seat, or an artistic shot while laying on the dancefloor, the freestyle photographer doesn’t feel pegged into any one style and shoots based on emotion, color, angles, and art. Famous example: Story By Photo.

5. The Newbie - with the cost of digital equipment in 2007, the barriers to entering the wedding photography market have never been lower. A part-time amateur can pick up a used 300D for cheap, advertise on Craigslist and shoot the most important day of a young couple’s life never having attended a wedding before. Newbies may describe their style as artistic photojournalism with a documentary edge. That’s both an oxymoron and repetitive. A newbie’s photos often lack punch, color or any unique composition. If taking two steps closer would improve the photo, you may be looking at a newbie. (No examples, sorry.)

Again, there are MANY different styles, one of which probably suits your style better than the rest. Knowing what type of wedding photos you enjoy looking at will help you determine which style photographer to choose. When in doubt, really look at the images - if they don’t mean anything to you it’s probably not your style. If they say “wow” to you, that’s your photographer!~~~

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