When you are a bride, you get ready for the wedding, right. The same way when you are going to be photographed, you need to do your homework. Just like the photographer does his(or hers).
What? Are you kidding? I’m a client & have to get ready for the session? YES. You will like the process & the result much better :)
When you watch ‘Mentalist’ in the evening & look at Patrick (actor), you definitely think he’s hot. Oh yes, I agree. But I know for sure that he has professional makeup on, his hair is done & he had a good night’s sleep.
So here are some tips & tricks that make life of a photographer easier & make the pictures beautiful naturally.
Use a professional makeup artist. No friend or sister can do that as good unless they’ve been professionally doing that for years.
You need to set a makeup trial run & explain to the make up artist what you like & what you’d like to have on the wedding day. Make sure the MUA applies the foundation on your neck, shoulders & decolletage. This is the way to make your head look like it belongs to the body.
Use moisturized lipstick. Keep your lips moisturized throughout the day. Make someone carry a chapstick for the groom. You’ll probably need powder for shiny spots.
No glitter. Under no condition apply glitter to the body. It will show like white spots on the pictures. Also try to avoid makeup with titanium dioxide that’s often used in sunblocks. It can reflect flash & wash out the natural color & the texture of the skin.
No tan lines. Please take care of your shoulders & avoid sun for a few weeks before the wedding. If you are planning to use tanning bed, do that 2 weeks before the wedding. And do not use fake tanning spray. There’s nothing worse for the photographer & ultimately for your wedding pictures than orange face & body.
Get ample sleep. You’ll have a happy day. It should not be a day full of worries. If something goes wrong, let it be. Just enjoy the day & your new relationship. If you get enough rest beforehand, you’ll avoid dark circles under your eyes.
Allow time for photos. No matter how much you love photojournalistic approach(or any-other-fancy-name approach), you’ll need at least 40 minutes for pictures only. If you have a lot of bridesmaids & groomsmen, add additional 30 minutes. I want you to have lots of pictures to frame.
Good location = good photographs. No comments.
Allow budget for a good album. I want you to order canvases, metal murals for your walls and of course an album! See, photography is a tricky thing. Everyone has a camera nowadays. How many gigabytes of pictures do you have on your hard drive? Hmmm. Go check. I’m serious: stop reading & go check. Probably tooooooo many. Now let’s do this. Be honest: how many of them did you see twice? How many of them did you print? How many of them did you show to someone? I’m sure the answer is ’toooooo few’.
So for me photography is both spiritual & material. I want you to have a humongous(hi to Sesame Street) album. Thick pages. Names embossed on the cover. Panoramic spreads that pop & make my heart shrink & start beating twice as fast. And then I’ll go grab Kleenexes.
Wedding is a one time deal. OK. Sometimes 2 time deal. Actually my aunt has been married 4 times(officially). But anyway it doesn’t matter. THIS wedding is important to you. So please save on ‘save a date cards’, get cheaper thank you gifts, buy 50 less yards of bows but get an album instead. Starting this year all the packages I have include an album.
Coming next will be tips how to choose pix for the album, how to plan the location for pictures, how to add some photo pop at the reception & a lot more.
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