Choosing the right wedding photographer and cinematographer is a tedious and an elaborate affair. As you plan your wedding, you will have questions like, how many photographers should cover my wedding. Should I hire a professional wedding photographer or a candid wedding photographer? Or, should I opt for both? Most importantly, you will be confused to identify who is a candid photographer and who is a conventional wedding photographer. Here is your answer to the question, How to hire a candid wedding photographer and does it add value and beauty to the wedding photo album.

What is Candid Photography?

Candid photography is identifying and capturing spontaneous, momentary and natural instances of emotions, be it happiness, excitement, joy or even tears. One of the best USBs of candid photography is that it is shot in motion and the photographer will be able to capture someone in their most natural way. It brings in a sense of spontaneity and the chances of the subject to be too camera-conscious is rare. The images look realistic and contemporary. In weddings, candid photography is a method of capturing images that involve shooting the wedding from a journalistic perspective without ‘touching’ the scene in any way. Sometimes you will not realize that a photographer is actually covering your wedding. S/he blends so much with the crowd that his/her presence is not at all noticed.

Indian wedding photography is largely about capturing these natural shots, as it brings out the essence of the rituals and ambiance as they truly are, without always telling the bride, groom or the guests to pose. For obvious reasons, candid photography does not require the bride, groom or the guests to dress up elaborately or apply cosmetics. It could be those blink-and-you-miss-it moments as you wink at your BFF while getting to the mandap, or that rare moment when your dad sobs during your Bidai or even your aunt scolding the caterer. The shots are mostly frozen in natural lighting as far as possible. Most of the time the bride, groom or the guests, are not even aware that they are being clicked. These are those moments of your story that only a talented and experienced candid wedding photographer can capture.

How are candid wedding pictures important?

Professional wedding photographers are well equipped with their lights, lenses and the crew aligned to capture the wedding from beginning to end. They take all formally posed images with friends, family and all other acquaintances. They make sure that not a single important ritual or a close family member is missed out during the photo session. A story of the wedding with all rituals is well captured by them. Candid images blow an extra life to those images. You will find a coy bride in the formal images, whereas there are chances that you find her naughty side teasing the groom in the candid photographs. Adding them to the Wedding album makes it the best wedding album you can make.

Identify a good candid wedding photographer

Wedding photography is one of the most competitive industries where you will find hundreds of youngsters labeled themselves a Candid wedding photographer. To pick the right one from this crowd is indeed a tough job. To identify the best candid photographer who will match your style, primarily, look out for these platforms

• Website
• Instagram page
• Facebook page

Look out for images s/he shared on these platforms. If they match the style you want to see in your image, bravo! You have found your best candid wedding photographer for your day. Some talented photographers will have NDA with their clients. If you think the guy has the potential, write to them and ask for reference images. They will share you their best clicks and you can choose accordingly.

As you have chosen the photographer, make sure you meet him/her personally or at least talk in person with him/her about your expectation and the agenda of the day. Let them know if you have any specific moments that cannot be left. Also, give them an opportunity to speak about their style of work. Build a rapport with the photographer so that you will be comfortable working together for the coming days.

Thus you have chosen the best candid wedding photographer for your most treasured wedding day. On the wedding day, let your family and friends know that you have an extra photographer working so that s/he can be accommodated during the make-up session, wedding, and the reception party.

Do not ask for all unedited images as s/he will have the best and worst, over and underexposed, and not so perfectly frames images. Give them time to sort and edit the best pictures and you will surely drool over them again and again.

Candid wedding albums

While creating wedding albums, it might be a good idea to include both candid as well as formal images. During weddings and other events, these Candid photographs manage to capture the hullabaloo of the preparations in a unique lively manner. Candid pictures speak a lot. This is what makes them extremely humorous at times, capturing the playful side of people, which comes spontaneously and which would never have happened had they been posing all along.