Hey all,
I've been doing a few weddings lately with my boyfriend whose background is in portrait photography; my background is in photojournalism. It's fun to share our ideas and see the different angles/views we come up with. However...... I'm curious about what you all do regarding "formal pics" of family, friends, bridal party, etc.
I've started asking couples for a list so that I don't forget anyone, but now I'm starting to feel that even this is too much "formal" for me! I wish I could skip them all together!
Any ideas? Comments? Suggestions?

Thanks!!

Lynn

That is so funny that you asked this question. I too was wondering how other wedding photographers handle the "formal pics." Formal pics are not my favorite and sometimes they take up so much time.

I don't really have any great thoughts to offer. I have a standard list in my head and sometimes clients will give me a list. I think the "formal pics" are just part of the job. Like any job I guess there are parts of the job that we love and other parts that are not as much fun. What are your thoughts on formal pics? Is it a must? Do you have a list? Do you let clients give you a list? Will you only do so many formal pics?

Well lets see we hate em and we really try not to do them! But there are those times when you have to please the bride, but I've never seen them buy one of them off of our Pictage site. I feel like brides have it ingrained in their head that they have to have em'. Most of the time I tell the bride that if there are any specfic pics they want to just yell at us and we will take it. And there are those special times when they want all to generations.....But for the most part we try to make formal pics fun, and the fun one are the ones they buy.
I guess you can say we try to talk the bride out of it. And if they give us a list we usually tuck it away in our camera bad and don't find it again until months later.

QUOTE (illumine @ April 27 2005, 01:00 AM)

Hey all,     I've been doing a few weddings lately with my boyfriend whose background is in portrait photography;  my background is in photojournalism.  It's fun to share our ideas and see the different angles/views we come up with.    However...... I'm curious about what you all do regarding "formal pics" of family, friends, bridal party, etc.      I've started asking couples for a list so that I don't forget anyone, but now I'm starting to feel that even this is too much "formal" for me! I wish I could skip them all together!      Any ideas?  Comments?  Suggestions? Thanks!! Lynn

I always tell "them" to make a list of the formals they want, I then tell them to assign someone that will take charge in making sure everyone is gathered for the formals.

I always make sure to explain to them that due to the fact that we are busy that we don't have time to be hunting people down, so they must take care of that end if they want certain images.

I also explain that we want to limit each group to about 2-3 minutes max. No more than that. Start with grandparents, parents, minister, uncles & aunts & work your way down. I always make sure to get the older folks back to the reception first.

Have your boyfriend handle the formals, while you shoot over his shoulder & capture candids.

I really dislike formals myself but hey this is why we get paid. I had a bride once drop a photographer & higher me because he did not care to do formals. He wanted to do things his way, & he lost the bride.

Rule # 1 always listen to the client who hires you, & pays you to listen to their needs & wants.

Cheers,

I feel your pain about "the formals" so I'm gonna get all psychological-sp? on you now and go back to my communications background and suggest that we (the OSP community) rename these shots!

"Formals" do suck so let's call them something else and shoot them differently!!!

Let's HAVE FUN with them and put as much life into these shots as we do our others...from a basic marketing perspective we should be focusing on these shots b/c the fact is that the other people in the wedding party will probably be your next clients!!!

Here's a cool one I shot last weekend!

Here's on of my all time favorites!

I love the creativity of your group shots, but there's something I have continued to wonder when I see them... Some of the subject's faces are so far away that it doesn't seem like you would be able to actually see them well in a print, even if it was bigger than the size image that you posted here on the forum. Does this ever seem to be an issue with clients? What's your take on this?

Thank you for all of the input! David, I agree with you that we should begin calling them something other than "formal" pics.... any ideas?? Yours are amazing... thank you for sharing. Has anyone ever received complaints on getting "too" creative with these shots? Just wondering Keep up the good work, all!

p.s. ~ has anyone else got some "formals" they'd like to share? I would love to see lots of perspectives! Thanks!

QUOTE (Nikon Geek @ April 27 2005, 02:58 PM)

Some of the subject's faces are so far away that it doesn't seem like you would be able to actually see them well in a print, even if it was bigger than the size image that you posted here on the forum. Does this ever seem to be an issue with clients? What's your take on this?

Good question! ...and I'm sure that would be a concern so I always get tighter shots too...and with 8 million pixels they can always zoom into these shots as well.

This is an old topic, but David, I just went out to a site I will be shooting at next month. It has palm trees too.....and ummmmm I live in Chico!
What lens is that shot from? I was trying to think of ways to incorporate the palm trees, they are really beautiful.
I am also really nervous about the formals....I HATE them, but like you said, I wanna have FUN with them. I just get really freaked out, and forget how to be creative..

-Coz

Hello Nathan,

My thoughts on this topic:

I think it depends on where you are located. Here in the deep south, clients really want the formal family photo. And what ever you do for the brides family, you have to do it for the grooms family. They are time eaters; BUT in our area, I frequently fill the album with the formals. After the proofs are handed out, I ask the bride to choose her favorites and most brides choose plenty of the formal shots. Maybe we are more traditional in Chattanooga or something like that. I once had a bride order a 30x40 of the posed wedding party photo.


I think that most family members look for the formal shots to be among the prints. Heaven forbid that we don't do them. I can just hear it now, "Amy used a photographer that didn't even take our family photo" so it goes with the territory. Formal shots are in the "must get" category of shots taken.

But we can add a creative spin on a few shots of the groups. I would much rather spend what little time we get on the bride and groom. I worked with a bride a couple of years ago. She said that they wanted very creative images and I gave them a lot of really neat stuff. When she picked out her favorites, most of them were from the posed family and group shots. Maybe her perception of creative and different were not on the same page as mine.

As far as the head sizes go. I would use the opportunity to upsell a larger print by pointing out that that head sizes will be small on a 4x6 / 5x7.

I'm starting to enjoy playing with formals. It's one of those things we have to do as wedding photographers, so why not break the boundries and do them in new and creative ways.

Here are 2 examples from my last wedding.

Fun stuff...

Great job, Kurt. That's the way to mix it up a bit. I like it!

Looks great Kurt! I really like the girls shot!

We've definitely gotta come up with a fun name for these shots...any ideas?

I agree with the comment about photographing in the south....the family photos are important to the bride. It's ironic....the mother of the bride expects more traditional photography and the bride wants the opposite! So I give the mother what she wants, I call the family photos "necessary evils" and I give the bride what she wants, creative wedding part photos. Thanks for all the ideas for more creative shots....the images on this forum rock.