Every good wedding photographer needs to not only have technical and artistic skills but also be adept at managing people. A wedding is a joyous occasion, but there can also be challenging family dynamics that you need to deftly navigate. If you're shooting a wedding in which either the bride or the groom has divorced parents, you'll need to ask questions to determine the nature of this relationship. You don't want to suggest a photo that leads to people being uncomfortable and sours some of their enjoyment of the wedding. Here are three tips for shooting wedding portraits of a bride or groom with divorced parents.
Determine If They Want To Pose Together
A lot of divorced parents will act in a civil manner toward one another at their child's wedding, but this isn't always the case. Talk to the bride or groom in advance to understand whether his or her parents will be up for posing together. Most wedding photographer packages include a conventional wedding photo where the bride or groom with his or her parents, but not all divorced couples will want to take this photo. If everyone will act appropriately, you can move forward with it. If not, you may want to consider a photo with each parent and his or her new spouse, if that suits the bride or groom.
Consider Group Photos
In the case of an extended blended family, it may make sense to shoot the bride and groom with their parents — including their step-parents. Again, you'll want to check with the bride or the groom to determine if this is appropriate. It's often the case that people don't have good relationships with their step-parents, and the bride or groom may not feel comfortable with this person appearing in an important shot. If you move forward with a large-scale group photo, plan to pose everyone in a way that those who don't get along aren't standing too close to one another.
Understand Who's Who
There may be situations in which the divorced parents profoundly dislike each other, and the bride or groom may have had to do considerable convincing to get them both to attend the wedding. It's a good idea to identify these two people in advance — perhaps with photos that the bride or groom supplies. The last thing you want is to look for a candid portrait, grab two people, and ask them to stand together — and then learn that the two people are the divorced couple.
Share24 August 2018
Ever since my parents allowed me to snap a few photos on their camera on vacation when I was a young child, I have loved photography. While we lived in the Midwest, I became hooked on taking photographs of the ocean and boats when we visited the Florida coast during one of our trips together. I found that just being near the ocean really made me happy, and after we returned home, I was able to "take the ocean with me" to experience that same feeling by taking photos of it. Being near the ocean is so calming and uplifting, but most people don't live near the coasts and don't get to experience its beauty every day. I now live by the ocean, so I decided to create a blog to share my tips about how you can best photograph the things you love.
