The Top Calgary Wedding Photography Styles

Finding the right wedding photographer or wedding photography team can be a real challenge. It's one of the first things you want to get settled when starting to plan a wedding, but it's also one of the most important and hardest decisions! There are lots of factors that go into choosing the right wedding photographer (check out this blog on 5 questions to ask a potential wedding photographers), but choosing a style of wedding photography that you like the best can really narrow down the field of potential photographers and help you zero in on the right wedding photographer for you and you wedding day.

Wedding photography can be broken down into the following three categories: Photography Style, Working Style and Editing Style. These simply mean how and what your photographer will photograph, how they will act and deal with people and situations and how they will finish the photos. There are plenty of different styles of wedding photography. These styles are made up of how the photographer shoots on the day and how they finish the photo with editing. All the styles are a range and some photographers might be fully one style or a mix of a few styles. Being aware of the different types of wedding photography and what is involved with each can help you give names to the styles of photos you like and help you in your search for the wedding photographer that can get you photos you love.

Here are a few photography styles, some have a few different names so we've listed all the ones we've come across for similar photography styles.

Traditional or Classic

This is a wedding photography style defined by the standing the test of time and getting all the important photos that you'll want to have way down the road as well as today. It can be a bit more posed and a bit more formal, and definitely should include all the photos your family will want to see. Traditional style photographers will be involved with the posing and making sure to create the classic shots that they feel are the most important for your wedding day. They tend to be more involved and will be making sure to find your grandma for that portrait with her. There isn't normally a lot of after the shoot editing for style.

Although a modern traditional photographer will still probably do most blemish removal and cleanup that is part of most photography in the digital age. So if you're looking for great portraits of you and your partner together, with family and friends as well as classic, usually modernized photos like your parents and grandparents had this might be the style for you.

Photojournalist, Documentary or Lifestyle

Some photographers like different terms for this and there are some differences between these three titles, but for the most part these three styles are defined by their candid and unposed nature. All three are styles that are all about photographing the real moments as beautifully as possible. They have less emphasis on perfect poses and aren't heavy on style. You could almost view these three styles as a spectrum with photojournalistic being the most candid 'fly on the wall' style with almost no intervention to clean things up, move people or pose, documentary somewhere in between and lifestyle still looking for candid moments, but with more direction and posing. These photographers tend to blend into the background more and you might not even realize they are there until you see the photos they captured. The editing that goes along with these styles is similarly light and is only basic colour and light correction to make the photos look as they did in real life. Similarly to traditional some modern documentary style photographers will still do blemish removal and things like that as well. If you want your photos to reflect the real you and the real wedding day you had with all the real emotions and moments one of these styles could be right for you.

Editorial

You can think of editorial wedding photography as more similar to a magazine photo shoot. Here your photographer will be focused on making striking photos by creating them. There will be a lot more posing and direction as well as lighting and locations. Working with an editorial photographer will involve a lot more being posed and directed. They will have a photo in mind and they will move you and your bridal party around to make that vision come to life. Along with the heavier hand in the posing there tends to be more editing for beauty as well as for design and look. This style would be right for you if you are looking to strike a pose and to work with your photographer to make a model shoot starring you and your partner to put on your walls.

Fine Art

This style can have a very wide range of different looks depending on the photographer, but it is less about capturing the moment and more about creating it. In some ways it is similar to editorial, but with less focus on a modern glossy magazine style and more on the photographer's personal artistic vision. Working with a fine art photographer will vary greatly depending on the type of fine art they are trying to create so it could be more fly on the wall or more posed. Their editing style will also follow their personal vision so this will be more about finding a particular specific photographer and trusting them. This is a style of photography that works well if you want to work together lots with your photographer to create their artistic vision to have a piece of fine art for your walls from your wedding day.

Dark and Moody

This style is a look that has a lot to do with what's going on inside the camera and in editing afterwards. There does tend to be a colour tone like early Instagram filters that goes along with this style, but it isn't necessarily a major part of this style. This is more about having no bright highlights and creating photos with deep, dark shadows. To do along with this there tends to be a more serious, romantic and emotional look to the expression and locations in these photos. It's a more modern style and can be a fit for couples that love the moody, overcast look of this style and want romantic and dramatic photos from their day. This can be a style that works great for night weddings and dark cloudy days.

Light and Bright

This the opposite side of the coin from the dark and moody look. These photos feature no real shadows and are all about bright highlights, which can create a more sort of vintage and dreamy look. Going along with the bright tones of the photos tends to be a more cheery and fun feel to them. This style tends to be with only natural light so it works great for couples having daytime sunny summer weddings and people that love the bright, dreamy look of the light and bright style.

Bonus: Landscape

This isn't necessarily a wedding photography style all by itself it kind of needs to be paired with another style. It is nice to mention because of the larger commitment it takes from the couple. Like the name says this wedding photography style features the landscape the couple is in heavily. This usually means the couple is going somewhere specific and special either on their wedding day or another day to get larger than life photos of them as usually a small part of a big landscape photo. This is great for small weddings where the couple has the whole day to spend with their photographer going to an epic location by driving, hiking or even helicopter. It can also be done as a separate shoot for people that don't have the time to do this on their wedding day. This one is perfect for nature or architecture lovers who want an amazing landscape photo that is made personal with the inclusion of them! With the amazing mountain and badlands landscapes around Calgary this tends to be a very popular one for both locals and destination weddings in the area.

These are just some of the names photographers use to describe their styles, but we hope it helps you to put a name to the types of photos you personally like. Every photographer is unique and it is still very important to meet with them to discuss their style after you see that you love their photos. A photographer may mix and match these styles. For example they may be a candid documentary style photographer during the getting ready and ceremony, a classic traditionalist during family portraits and a highly stylized editorial photographer for your portraits! If you need more help choosing the right photographer for you check out this blog on questions to ask wedding photographers. Now look at the wedding photos you love and see if they fit into these categories. Think about how you'd like to spend your wedding day and the type of photographer you'd like to spend it with! Good luck in your search for the perfect Calgary Wedding Photographers!