When you're scrolling through Instagram and Pinterest, saving posts and deciding on your personal style can be daunting, being that there are SO many beautiful ways to shoot and edit a wedding day!
I've listed below the SIX (6) main, trending styles of photography to give you a better idea of how to separate each style! Keep in mind, every photographer is going to have their own "version" of each of these, and there's no "right" or "wrong" answer!
(Psst...Did I mention you can mix and match all of these into a single wedding gallery if you wanted? Just sayin’, the option is there for ya!)
As a personal preference for all of these styles, I say that I will always veer towards what the true life moment is calling for when shooting and editing an image. In other words, I’m not going to force a moment or lighting scenario into something that it’s not, [with the exception of using on-camera flash for night scenes]. I won’t distort an image to be ultra dark, or super bright and blown out. In every style, I want my subjects’ skin tones, hair colors, to be accurately captured. In addition, I tend to edit a little more warm, giving life to the skin - but I never want to come off "orange" or oversaturated.
My goal for every gallery, no matter what the style (from classic to vintage) should still look timeless in 20, 40, 60 years; Never tied back to a specific decade, trend of editing, or treated with a heavy hand.
Classic
True-to-life colors, tones and lighting throughout the gallery; This is like the “no makeup-makeup” style in the beauty world.
Fine Art
Like the name suggests, these photos are creamy-smooth and detail oriented. I personally prioritize sharpness of my subject, even when I want to do something super artsy-fartsy, introducing glass and other elements into the lens to create depth. “Fine Art” doesn’t mean “detail shots,” but it does usually require a fine touch in photoshop for each image. These photos are super crisp and clean, removing distractions and imperfections.
Editorial
Similar, yet unique to Fine Art, Editorial explores a creative and more “polished” finished look. Taking a wedding gallery “editorial” has more to do with the mood and direction in posing than it does in editing or “shooting” style.
Moody & Muted
Also referred to as “Dark & Moody”, this style is super trendy on the IG feed, showing super muted highlights, slightly faded color theme, and usually more dramatic hues of one color over the rest (i.e. sandy tan or oranges on the warm spectrum, or cool neutrals). This doesn’t always have to be a DARK image! You can definitely have bright, muted tones. There’s also the spectrum of warm to cool tones, as previously mentioned, within every color palette, but you’ll usually see the warm tones with more trendy “moody & muted” style today.
Vintage
“Vintage” is designed to be open-ended, because there are so many versions of it now! Do you want a green-tinted film look like you just got married in the 60’s? Or are you vibing with an 70’s/90’s grain treatment that gives them that effortlessly warm, timeless feel… OOF I’m all excited to shoot now.
Documentary
“Documentary style” seems to have evolved in societal definition through the years. At its truest form, my interpretation is beyond a candid photo, albeit that would apply in the doc style. But this is about the ethics of capturing raw, unaltered moments, and keeping them that way throughout the editing process. All of my work, unless requested otherwise, is going to have a natural documentary bent. The “candid” approach can live within all the styles listed above, but true documentary is another thing altogether.
Custom
I love when couples come to me with creative ideas, or feel inspired by multiple styles! They may want 20% of Fine Art, 10% of Moody & Muted, and bring inspiration photos that they’re in love with, hoping to recreate their own versions of! HELLO? That’s only my DREAM? Others might want the pure Documentary approach with a Fine Art or muted highlight edit applied - and they trust me to make their vision come to life. If you're thinking you want a little bit of everything, we can definitely make that happen too, and breakdown your wedding day to sort through which parts of your day you're envisioning look like which styles.