1. Introduction

Candids have swept the country. According to the latest statistics, at least  1,500,000 weddings were performed in each year for the past ten years— or one wedding for every hundred people. A conservative figure of one hun­dred dollars for the average candid wedding order adds up to a multi-million dollar industry. And in my experience, it is rare nowadays, to find a bride without a wedding album or 3D pictures.

What kind of pictures are in demand? Styles have changed. Gone is the day of studio formals. The swing has turned to action-stopping photos. Man's ability to harness the intensity of sunlight in a little bulb of glass and to release at will this flash of brilliance, makes possible the capture of fleeting, priceless moments of the wedding day.

With this change came a new problem. In the old "studio formals" one photographer could shoot a bridal party every half hour. In "candid wedding" photography the photographer must remain for the duration of each wedding-following along from the bride's house to the church, and into the recep­tion. It is understandable that a studio could not keep men who were needed only on Saturday and Sunday on its permanent staff. The practice was, and still is, to hire a free-lance photographer for each wedding as it is booked.

This situation did not come about abruptly. If it had, it could have played havoc with all studios, for few photographers knew much about flash. But sev­eral factors played an important part in making the transition from studio for­mals to candid weddings a smooth one. The public did not go out for candid wedding photography all at once. Most who ordered this type of coverage also requested studio formals as insurance, for candid results were unpredictable. A candid wedding around 1944 or 1945 was often an amateurish operation— 15 to 20 shots were considered enough. At best, the work was fair, and nobody knew the difference.

The creation of the candid wedding photographer really started about 1944. Then the G.I. Bill of Rights made possible first the education, then the availability of thousands of photographers who, though inexperienced, knew the rudiments of flash. They in turn, along with press photographers, stimu­lated the interest of countless amateurs in the use of the 4x5 press camera, flash and candid weddings.

3. Bride and maid of honor together before mirror: keep heads close together and be sure that both are shown. If the bride's hands show, have her hold a comb, brush, perfume bottle, etc.—a hand mirror may cast a had reflection. A smile is more appropriate here than when the bride is photographed alone. This shot may also be made with the bride's mother or sister in attendance. (Bttsch Pressman; Tri-X; 80 w/s electronic flash, 1/200, f/13; film developed in DK-50.) 4. This is another version of the bride alone before the mirror, this

The Present Set-up

Today the supply of photographers meets the demands—but only in quan­tity, not in quality. Because standards in the candid wedding field are lower than any vocation I can think of in which people are paid for their services, there's always room for a good newcomer. Results now run the gamut from the occasional good to the more common fair or bad. A studio's reputation is in the hands of the candid men shooting its weddings. Most studios with fine por­trait records have suffered, for their reputation is only as good as their least competent photographer and the negatives he exposes. Within a few years an­other important development came about. Wedding photography was steadily taken away from the studio by the very men it hired. Without this revenue thousands of general photography studios folded. Most were post-war ventures.

This development was a natural. Today's candid wedding photographer needs no studio. The accepted way now is to shoot "formals" (bride, bride and groom, and bridal party) with flash in the living room, church or reception hall and in warmer weather in front of the church or at the park against a back­ground of foliage and sky. All that is needed is a few hundred dollars worth of equipment, a darkroom in an attic, basement or bathroom and the photog­rapher is in business. Weddings occur almost exclusively on Saturdays and Sundays—the average man's day off. The candid photographer can have his regular job (usually not photography) and generously supplement his income with candids. But having this as a supplement and not the main source of in­come is, I believe, the important reason for his complacent attitude and for the almost complete lack of the one ingredient indispensable to success in any business—competition. Then, too, the stimulus of information or literature on the shooting of candids is conspicuously absent.

time made with the partial-bounce technique. (Konica III; Plus-X; No. 5 flash­bulb; 1/200, f/11; film developed in Microdol.) 5. Before departing for church, the bride surrounded by her attendants makes a lovely subject. The individuals are usually youthful and the realistic effect of partial-bounce flash adds naturalness to the shot. Try for a carefully-posed hut apparently in­formal grouping such as the one shown here. (Rolleifex; Tri-X; 60 w/s elec­tronic flash, partial bounce, 1/250, f/4; developed in Microdol.)

What Is Candid Wedding Coverage?

Today, covering a candid wedding has developed into a full day's project, and fifty or more photos are made. The continuity of the candid has become standardized by the public's preference for certain poses and all photographers take very much the same kind of shots. However, each photo can reflect the imagination and originality of the individual photographer. This originality, coupled with clean processing and printing, will pay big dividends in personal satisfaction as well as in dollars and cents.

The candid wedding photographer's function is an important one. To him is entrusted the recording of the wedding day—an indelible recording—never to be retaken. It can relive pleasant memories for the couple and their families, or by inferior workmanship, spoil them irreparably!

Simply producing a photographic record of the wedding day is not enough. Aside from technical excellence the photographs should contain the elements needed to sustain the "reader's" interest.

6. The bride descending the stairs is posed at the bottom to avoid the distor­tion which would occur if you shoot up at her from below. This gives a charming three-quarter length portrait. The wallpaper in the background was burned in to subdue the distracting pattern and prevent a conflict with the real center of interest. Sometimes there arc murals or natural backgrounds which add to the bridal mood. When you can separate bride and background, shoot with a large lens opening to throw it out of focus. (ButchPressman; Tri-X; 80 w/s electronic flash unit, 1/200, f/16; DK-50.) 7. The bride putting on her garter is a shot best made in the bedroom. The hem of the gown should be no higher than the knee to keep this picture from becoming indelicate. (Rolleiflex Tri-X; 60 w/s electronic flash unit, partial bounce, 1/250, f/5.6; Microdol.) 8, 9. The "following photographer" is expected to take a half-dozen formal shots in addition to candid coverage during the hurried and sometimes harried preparations of the family getting ready to go to the church. There is no time for multiple lighting; all his effects must be obtained with one light. Modeling can be improved by raising the gun or by using a bare bulb or bounced flash, but the best results come from "partial bounce" tech­niques—some of the light strikes the bride's face directly and the rest is re­flected from the walls and ceiling. (With a white ceiling, opening up two f/stops more than for straight flash will give proper negative density.) This partial bounce effect should not he used with color, however, because of the danger of introducing color casts from surrounding surfaces. To avoid distor­tion in the camera, shoot full-length portraits from a squatting position with the lens at about waist level. For three-quarter standing or sitting portraits, raise the lens to about the shoulder level of the subject. (Picture 8: Rolleiflex; Tri-X; 60 w/s electronic flash unit, partial bounce, 1/250, f/4; developed in Microdol. Picture 9: Rolleiflex; Tri-X; 60 w/s electronic flash unit, partial bounce, 1/250, f/5.6; film developed in Microdol.)

Available light, control of depth of field or focus, suggestion of motion through blur and even obvious grain are a few of the adjectives and adverbs of the photographic language waiting to be used by the candid wedding photog­rapher. He has the means to inject into the prosaic, the sustained interest of the short story or perhaps even the imagery of a poem. On the other hand there are the candid wedding photographers who have little or no interest in their work other than as a way to "an extra buck." They are coasting along on last year's knowledge. For them, understandably, photography is work!

About the Word "Candid"

The expression "candid pictures" may have had its origin in the newspa­per and magazine fields. It implies the taking of unposed, on the spot photos with a portable camera. Magazines such as Look and Life depend almost en­tirely on the candid picture, and to a lesser degree the same applies to news­papers. To them, in most instances, the picture story is all important, technical excellence secondary, and flattery inconsequential.

In candid wedding photography the exact opposite holds true; flattery is all and flattery will get you everywhere. The success of your venture depends upon the number of pictures purchased. A couple will not select a picture of themselves, regardless o£ its importance to the sequence of the wedding story, if they do not like the way they look. For the experienced candid wedding photographer there is no element of surprise. He is aware of every picture in the series and its problems. Consequently, there is no excuse for lack of tech­nical competence. Throughout the entire wedding there are only five or six shots that are truly "candid." These are taken during the ceremony at the altar. Even in shots where action is taking place, such as coming down the aisle, the bridal couple can see the photographer ready to take their picture. So, the connotation of the word "candid" with wedding pictures is not so much the capturing of expressions as the stopping of action with a fast lens or flash. The public is constantly bombarded by the finest photography in the world used to sell nationally advertised products. However, people do not ex­pect this excellence in their personal portraits or wedding photos. To them this type of photography is as remote as Hollywood or the glamorous models who smile at them from the pages of magazines; it comes as a pleasant surprise when their pictures have some of the clarity and sparkle found only in truly professional work.

How This Book Will Help You

The primary purpose of this book is to provide the necessary know-how for shooting a "professional" candid wedding. It will be an invaluable guide to the photographer contemplating candid for profit, and equally invaluable to the one now shooting professionally who is interested in smoothing out possible rough edges.

A second, though not secondary, purpose is my desire to elevate the standards of our field and by so doing to place it on a par, in the mind of the public, with the established portrait studios and their consistently acceptable photographic results.

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