by Brett McNally

When looking into booking a Wedding Photographer for your special day, it can be quite a bewildering task for many brides to be in understanding the difference between all the different styles of photography available to you.

Many years ago (even to this day) The Traditional Wedding photographer would be known for his/her formal style where every photo was staged and posed including grouping your family members and your friends. This once was how things were done but it got to a point where the final product lacked a certain lustre in style and uniqueness.

Nowadays the varied contemporary photojournalism styles have become more prefered to the original formal style. The Wedding photography world has become more about telling the story of the special day rather than about everyone in attendance. This is why we now have styles such as candid, informal, documentary and reportage photography to choose from, but what the heck do they all mean I hear you wonder, well keep reading and I will enlighten you.

Candid Photography

This style of photography is a style of spontaneous point and shoot. A candid photograph is created without making a posed appearance. This style of photographer would likely mix within the crowds to capture the celebration and joy within your photographs with up close shots of your friends and family catching up, enjoying themselves, making fools of themselves after a few too many glasses of alcohol and also focusses on expressions, smiles, laughter and glances of love between your and your partner during your special day.

Candid photography describes the style of spontaneous “point and shoot” one might associate with the paparazzi. A candid photographer is experienced in seeking out the intricate stories and details during your event; often mixing amongst the guests to get the best shots. This style is ideal if you really want to capture the essence of joy and celebration within photographs; up-close shots of friends and family enjoying catching up, drinking and dancing. A candid photographer focuses in upon the smiles, expressions and glances of love exchanged between you and your partner, throughout that special day.

Reportage / Documentary Photography

Reportage Photography is not a lot different to the contemporary style of candid photography and is used to capture the story of your special day through pictures.

A Reportage Photographer will likely be as unobtrusive as possible so that he can capture the event as naturally as possible by using certain angles and natural light to take photos that you were most likely unaware they were being taken.

This style of photo journalism is about capturing the story of the wedding or event in a documentary style.

*Please note that Reportage and Documentary photography are the same thing, some photographers use the word Reportage as it sounds nicer but they are exactly the same thing.

Informal Photography

Informal photography is the style a photographer would use to go a step further to make each photo a unique piece of art using a combination of composition, depth of field and candid photography and generally the photos really stand out!

A Informal Photographer would often include both candid and reportage styles and sometimes uses software like photoshop to touch up the photos however the majority of professional photographers would get the balances right to achieve the effects naturally. (or a bit of both).

Formal Photography

Formal Photography is generally applied to staged / posed photographs that are accustomed to framing and hanging on the wall after your special day.

Formal photography is great if you prefer to formally photograph all of the important people attending your wedding in the photos.

Formal photography is somewhat outdated these days but many photographers still use aspects of it to include those all important group photos that we all love in our wedding album.