One of the most prevalent styles of wedding and portrait photography is labeled as “traditional” or “classic.”  These are fitting descriptions. This style of photography is conventional, long-established, and well, traditional.

Traditional portraits are detailed, straightforward, and have a highly produced feel. This style is exemplified by straight on, posed photos.  Details are meticulously attended to. The result is a clean, formal portrait.

Posed formal portraits is an important part of most wedding photography. These formal portraits give the opportunity to capture the bride, groom, their wedding party, and their families in various combinations. Formals are almost always an expected part of any wedding day photography.

Here’s our take on traditional, formal portraits and how we go about them.  Our approach for traditionally styled portraits is mainly client driven.  We offer ideas and suggestions for what poses will be taken on the wedding day as a part of our pre-wedding consultations.  There are certain must-have formals, but we shoot these photos for the clients and their families.

Technically, we aim to put the emphasis on the details in the photo.  We use soft, even lighting for the subjects to give a clean, simple look. We also light the background – something many photographers don’t do. Subtly lighting the background allows us to not let the background fall off  too much, adding color and context to the photographs. The goal of a traditional style photograph is a classic, formal image. So, we don’t want the lighting or an off-angle composition to detract from the purpose of the details in the image.

Making sure the dress, flowers, and hair perfect is an important element to a formal portrait. That’s why Laura is a great asset to have around for traditional portraits. Her keen eye for detail take these pictures to the next level.

For a formal, very traditional ceremony or personality, traditional photography is an important element to the wedding day photography.  While we never shoot solely in a traditional style, it is something that is an important part of building your wedding day memories.

Here are a few examples of our traditional photography style:

This is part one in the series. For the entire series, including the introduction, click photographic style.