Beautiful photos are not an accident. So, what can you do, as a wedding photographer, to make sure your photos are the best they can be?

On our way back from 4th of July concerts and celebrations in Connecticut, Lydia (the second photographer), Julianna, and I stopped in Delaware to photograph a wedding.

We arrived early on the day of the rehearsal to do some scouting around the church.

To get the light and airy effect that is so popular in wedding photography, we went looking for good perspectives where we could pose people with backlighting. We also made sure to be there at the same time as we would be taking pictures the next day.

We soon discovered that this was not going to be an easy location to shoot! There was a nice tree with ivy growing on it, but at that time of day, to get backlighting, a dumpster and the back of the church was the background.

It seemed like every area we hoped would work, with backlighting at that time of day, there was an unappealing background. The back of the church, the parking lot, school busses, a play ground, metal fences, houses, radio towers, and telephone poles and wires. It was truly an out-of-the-ordinary location!

Finally, we settled on a spot where a background was actually uncluttered.

But that was just one spot. We would need more locations to go than that. So we decided to go onto the other side of the church. It only made sense that if from the back of the church all backlit photos would have the church in it, than if we were in front of the church, all backlit photos wouldn’t have the church in it anymore!

Problem is, then we had the surrounding neighborhood to deal with.

Using bushes and flowers and exploring every angle possible, we did the best we could to find some angles that might work.

We also noticed a section of rock wall along the front of the church that could make for nice photos. It wouldn’t provide backlighting, but it would at least make a good background if the subjects weren’t looking directly into the sun. By that time, the sun had gone behind the clouds, so we weren’t sure if that would be the case, but because of how far the roof protruded above this area, we hoped that it work too.

By now, rehearsal would be starting soon. And during a rehearsal, we do a lot of “scouting”! What angles work? Which angles don’t? Where should the two of us photographers be standing? Who should shoot what? What lenses should each of us be using? And at what times?

The first time around, we missed the groom walking in. So we reconfigured to make sure that important moment wouldn’t be missed.

Scouting ahead of time doesn’t ensure that there will be no flaws on the actual wedding day, but it sure does help reduce the amount of missed moments. Scouting ahead of time, at the same time and same location, is one thing I make sure to do before every wedding. It reduces so much stress! The more scouting I am able to do ahead of time, the more I’m able to focus on expressions and the client’s experience on the actual day of the wedding.