What Are the Different Asian Wedding Photography Styles?

Asian Wedding Photography Styles. Photography adds a unique dimension to your wedding, not just on the day, but for many years after the big day.  These will be the only keepsake of value from your wedding.  And when you look back on your  wedding story book, these will be the ultimate family heirloom.

Getting the right photographer for your wedding is vitally important, and tips on choosing one can be found on the article  how to book a photographer.  One of the aspects I discuss in the article is  finding a style that suits you.  But what are the options and styles, what does it all mean. When you do your research, you will find that,  us photographers use a of jargon that can be confusing and loose you.  I have always felt that its my job to make your wedding planning journey as easy as possible.

I have put together a quick guide to help you find your way around styles.   To find out more about my style have a read here

The styles are not strict standards but disciplines  followed by wedding photographers, that shape the tone of your story in a specific way which means that you are limited to their style like it or not.  My style for example is a combination of  disciplines ranging from fashion, candid, reportage way…. with doing it again…. lets start the guide.

Asian Wedding Photography Styles

Traditional Asian Wedding Photography

When you flick through old wedding albums or newer wedding storybooks, they are likely to tend to include a lot of traditional shots.  By which I mean they are classic posed shots of the key moments of the day;  The signing of the register, the formal group shots, the Jai Mala or ring exchange, cake cutting, the viday or ruksati,  shots of the cake cutting, first dance and the couple portraits and of course some very classic formal shots of the couple ( just think back to your parents pictures…)

This style puts the photographer in charge of the wedding, getting involved in guiding, directing and posing  and in some cases managing the flow of the wedding.  If this is your preferred style, make sure your photographer has the experience in people management and taking charge.

Photojournalistic Asian Wedding Photography

A ever growing style is Photojournalistic or reportage photography. A popular shooting style especially for capturing the unguarded relaxed moments of the day.  With this style you are giving the photographer a lot more room to flex their creative story telling and capturing moments they see that flows to retell your story in a relaxed and informal approach.

A lot of creativity, experience and some serious kills is required for this style of photography.  The  Photojornalistic/Reportage style relies heavily on the experience of the photographer and understanding the art of photography. This will put their visual and technical skills to test, they will need to have mastered the art of quickly aiming, adjusting settings, framing, and shooting as moments unfold around them. The results will be real and natural images. But be warned if a photographer only has 1 year of experience and is self taught, and they offer this style tread carefully as their style may not have developed yet!

Cinematic Asian Wedding Photography

This is a new and developing style of wedding photography,  when done right can result in awe inspiring images. Mainly reserved for stand out couples portraits,  cinematic wedding photography places emphasis on the composition, lighting, and background. The couple are posed either formally or candidly, within a picturesque setting.  This combined with the understanding of landscape photography in landscape photography, and some fancy post production work gives rise to some inspirational and timeless wedding photographs. An added element of this is that some of the photos will have a degree of fashion photography withing it.

However, again, if not done correctly can result in out of date “on trend styles” ( just think back to spot colour styles where an image is black & white, but on part is in colour!)

Natural Light Wedding Photography

Another skill based style, and heavily depends on the photographer knowing their craft. Natural light wedding photography is basically using natural and available light to take the picture rather than using a camera flash or artificial light sources.

For daytime and outdoor weddings, or  in a wedding venue which has a lot natural daylight this is the perfect choice, The result is obviously more natural. This style choice is for the brave and a for experienced photographer who knows how to deal with shadows and allowing for low light and other extreme lighting conditions such as harsh midday light.  Your photographer must be very experienced in this, again if the photographer is relativity new, then be sure they have the relevant training to provide this style. Its not as easy as it sounds.

Fine Art Wedding Photography

Fine Art Wedding photography,  is a style suited for the more creative couple.  You will see some creative framing, lighting and compositions. if you select this option, you will likely see things from a different perspective, you may just see elements of the story, rather than the whole picture, and relies on the viewer to fill in the gaps and see the beauty in the image rather than the full image. Don’t be surpeised to see only a hint of your wedding  lengha, or just details of a shot. The  emphasis on this style is the “Art” and creativity.  This style is best used in conjunction with another style if you are worried about missing the key shots. Checking with your photographer they can do both styles will be invaluable.

Fashion Wedding Photography

This one is for the style conscious couple, whose key focus will be the wedding day portraits. based on the commercial shoots of fashion and bridal magazines this has crossed over from engagement photography or pre-wedding shoots.  Its quite intensive, with multiple lighting setups, and loads of directions on poses and setting your outfits – its very time consuming and takes you away from the main wedding action for a while. Which means you will have to balance your schedule with the need for stylistic portraits.

The Asian wedding photography styles, you choose will determine the look, feel and ultimately   your wedding story.  My style, in simple terms is a combination of disciplines that is made up of my experience in photography from working for fashion magazines, newspapers and commercials clients, and over the years have combined to create a look and style which works well for all couples that provide classic, cinematic and timeless stories.