Dear Photographer Friends,

“How do you take such pretty bridal detail photos in a cluttered room or small bridal rooms?” & “Where do you get all these props for the detail photos?”- these are amongst the most asked questions by fellow photographers.

90% of the times I share behind the scenes from the weddings and show people how I’m taking the bride’s details as well as the light setup for the photos but I was getting this question so often that I had to address it in a detailed blog post.

Here are few quick tips and tricks to take better photos in a cluttered spaces and small bridal rooms. These tips will walk you through my thought process for every wedding that I document.

1. Pay Attention: as soon as I arrive to the wedding, I pay keen attention to the theme of the wedding. Is it a romantic wedding? What colors are used the most (pinks, whites, darker shades, etc)? Does the stage decorations mostly have flowers or patterns? Once I get a good idea of the overall theme, I choose my props accordingly which brings me to the next point.
   

   The stage had lots of gold and royal blue. Luckily, her shoes’ dust-bag was the same color as the theme hence I used it for the detail’s photos.

2. Work with What is Available: Most hotel rooms have props such as side-table lamps, fresh flowers, centerpieces, etc. In case I don’t find anything, I use bride’s dress / bouquet or both as props to keep the theme as the rest of the album photos.
   

   I simply put the bride’s shoes on her dress’s long back & added color with her bouquet.

3. Be Creative: The brides hire us for our creativity. If I tend to be covering a wedding at the same hotel that I’ve covered several events at and have used all the available props, I put my creative hat on and use the same props in a different way.
   

   I used the available decoration in the hotel suite and put it in front of the mirror which resulted in this beautiful bokeh effect.

4. Zoom in: When all else fails, zoom into the  details to avoid the surrounding clutter. Zooming into the details will produce sharp images as well as the viewers’ eyes will directly go to the main subject making it the center of attention.
   

   The stage for this wedding was lots of golden-lined pattern. I put down the only table available in the bridal room, covered a part of it with her dress & put her jewelry on it.

   

   This is how the final photo looked like 🙂

Folks, I hope this blog post helps you provide your brides the best details’ photos that they cherish for the rest of their lives. I also wrote about How to Take Sharp Photos as well as How to Photograph in Low-Light that may help you with your photography & photo-business. For more of How-To posts for photographers, feel free to Click Here.

If you have any tips to add to these or want to share which of these points sparked ideas for you, I’d absolutely love to hear from you in the comments below <3

Your Friend,
~ Rima