Indian Wedding Photography Styles You Need To Know Before Photoshoot

Photography for Indian Weddings

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”
Aaron Siskind

Looking for a photographer and the task seems boringly unending to you?

Weddings in India are no less than a celebration that goes for at least a week with so many rituals and functions. And one enjoys every function thoroughly.

Indian weddings are full of love, joy, laughter, functions, rituals, food, clothes, lights, music and what not. It is no less than a festival for any family to look forward.

In fact weddings are purposely fixed for the months when kids have no exams. It might sound funny, but the truth is nobody wants to miss the wedding be it a large celebration or the small one.

Preparations for wedding starts even six months before the D-day.

So many tasks are there to perform by both sides of the families and the most important task among all is to find the best photographer.

As the wedding photography is what is left when everything else has been packed up and put away. It’s the pictures that will be looked at by generations to come. Photographs are the most tangible item one walk away with.

And finding that perfect wedding photographer can be quite a task, with so many options available to choose from.

It might take you months to finalize the one and by the time you have shortlisted one – chances are – your favorite photographer is booked already! Oh! The only thought gives Goosebumps….!

Here are just a few indicators you might want to see before you head to search out for your favorite photographer for your Big Day. These indicators will surely help you speed up the process.

1. Clarity

Chances are, you won’t be the soul decision maker and it happens at least in Indian weddings. At a very initial stage, you must know what you are looking for exactly.

In between all the confusions and opinions, you have to find the best. Search for photographers online or on social media especially Facebook, you can also look at friends’ wedding pictures to get wedding photography ideas, ask for recommendations.

You can also speak to a wedding photographer whose style appeals to you.

2. Wedding photography Ideas/Styles

Gone are those days when one had only option of having even wedding images in B/W but now photographers are sort of lensed or can say equipped with various styles to get you the best wedding photographs, your memories for generations.

The different styles of photography are wedding photojournalism, Candid Photography, Fine art, contemporary, or Studio.

Whatever the style you go for, when it comes to Photography – each photographer has her/his own distinct style & way of shooting and their work speak for them. Below is a brief description about all of the styles:

  • Wedding Photojournalism In Wedding Photojournalism, the wedding photojournalists will give you 200-300 pictures over 5-6 hours of photography. He will charge you for extra hours. Also, later you might find out that the group/Party pictures, all the stage poses are missing. Basically wedding journalists are not the ones you are looking for as the charm of having entire family will be lost while choosing them for your wedding.
  • Candid Photographer Candid photographers are most appreciated these days as they are the most creative & flexible in terms of budgets, hours & working styles. You can always expect thousands of pictures of your wedding, and later selecting the ones you want to have finally. You can go ahead with this one. So much without any extra charge.
  • Contemporary Photographer A fine-art or contemporary photographer is the one who will create your wedding pictures artistically pleasing. Complete indoor photography, photographer would give you 300-400 pictures from a wedding. Most of them would be edited pictures. Stage poses miss in this style too.
  • The Studio This includes anything and everything of a wedding, meaning every picture from entering of guests, to talking, to eating, to drinking, to smiling, to dancing, to stage poses, to candid ones – ALL kinds of pictures. And you don’t need to worry about extra hours, delays. If you are looking for something like this, then surely go for the studios.

3. Final Delivery from the Photographer

In the world of Digital Photography, films and negatives are nowhere to be seen, and I am sure you know that. The final delivery will be in JPEG format edited and fine-tuned.

Off course the final touch and edit is done only after you finalize the pictures of your choice.

Always make sure that you have the control over the images you require at last. Here comes the clarity part with the photographer itself. Always focus on image quality and not on image quantity.

4. Budgets – Most important

Well wedding photography is something which can’t be compromised at all. However, budget also can’t be missed either. Good Candid Photographers charge 25-50k for a day’s work.

A photojournalist, fine-art or contemporary photographer might charge anywhere from 50k-150k INR per day and may be more, depending upon season and various other factors. A Studio will cost you somewhere around 30-75k a day.

Final decision is always yours, considering all the predominant factors, you can go with a traditional photographer or a studio for photo & video both to get the best deal.

5. Booking & Payment Process

Make sure that you have booked your photographer in advance by giving him the token money or also called the booking amount. Photographers do not hold dates on emails or phone calls.

6. Discounts!

Don’t talk about discounts, if you want the best work, do respect their fee too. And if you think that you can’t afford him, go for another wedding photographer whose charges are affordable for you.

There are many, you just need to find out the one who you can afford.

7. W-Day photography

Photographers are artist and they know their work well. Make sure that nobody indulges their feet in between to tell them their task.

Mostly it is seen in Indian weddings that everybody comes for suggestion and advice doubting the person’s work altogether, which may annoy the photographer and can affect your pictures.

8. Venue and Program Details

Your photographer must have correct venue and program details well in advance to avoid last minute chaos. As they have several weddings to attend so it is your duty to give them the correct information without fail.

9. Respect Photographers Guidelines

It’s been a week. When do we get the pictures?? Yes, it happens that you become curious to have your wedding pictures the moment the celebration is over so as to live your moments once again but don’t forget each photographer has their own timeline.

Surely you don’t want to have unedited raw work in your hands.

In that case you need to have patience. To give you finally edited pictures typically takes 3-6 weeks.

Don’t pressurize the photographer to deliver you the pictures early it will only deteriorate the quality of your pictures and nothing else. Respect the timelines

10. Final Pictures Copyrights

The photographer retains the copyright to all your images at all times. Mostly, photographers give you, personal use rights to your images – which means: you can print, re-print, make albums & books, and share on social media like Facebook, Instagram, email etc.

For any further requirements you can always speak to the photographer directly. It’s always good to have clear communication with your photographer.

The whole process might look like a huge and tiresome task to you to accomplish but the truth is, finding the right photographer for your wedding takes some time & effort.

It is something which can’t be done in hurry as it may spoil all your mood after getting the final copies of your wedding images in hand.

And you should never hesitate to put in efforts in search as it’s your day, and you have all the prerogatives to have the best wedding photographer of the town as to have the best memories to share with your kids and grand kids.

It is no small event to be taken for granted.

Spend time, efforts and do it all with lots of patience after all it’s a big and crucial decision.

Happy Wedding!

Enjoying Posing and styling!

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