Wayne Mackeson takes lovely black-and-white portraits. I could blog so many of his images, but have chosen to embed just this one—”Tío Carli and his Mother”—not because it’s his best, but because it’s both naturally warm and neatly composed.

Tío Carli and his Mother

Originally uploaded by Mackeson ap Meugan

It’s up to you as well as your photographer if you want to look great in your wedding album. My top tip for brides is to make sure you have any rebellious ringlets pinned firmly away from your eyes before you walk down the aisle. I’m not going to stop you and your dad to hold stray bangs back for you.

If you want more advice, then hop over to wikiHow, where there’s a whole page on how to be photogenic.

With the holiday season approaching, you might want to read Dan Chung’s travel photography tips from The Guardian.

I take most of my best photos when people either haven’t seen me or aren’t concentrating on me or don’t care that I’m there. The last is the simplest to achieve: I just hang around quietly all through the wedding day dressed in boring clothes. Eventually I’m just part of the background, like the waiting staff. If there was some way to keep it clean I might be tempted to wear a waiter’s uniform.

Yesterday on PooterGeek I linked to this wonderful documentary about photojournalist Steve McCurry on the Magnum Photo site [requires Flash]. It’s clear from many of his photos that McCurry’s subjects are aware of his presence, either because you can see them reacting to him or because it would simply be impossible in the context for them not to see him. I think most of the time that his subjects have simply come to take his presence for granted. In the documentary you can see that, even when he is not dressed and groomed like the locals, he goes about his business quietly and blandly.

If you don’t want to be seen at all then there are several tricks you might want to try. (I’m not about to recommend that you become a voyeur. If you are not being paid to shoot an event than only take photographs of people you don’t know when they are in a public place—everyone is entitled to privacy in his or her own home and garden—and restrict yourself to clothed adults.)

Get a small camera. If you want a 35mm film SLR and don’t have big hands, the Minolta Dynax 5 is an absolute gem and dirt cheap on eBay. So cheap that the non-neglible probability that it’ll die after a few months of abuse isn’t worth worrying about. Similarly the Dynax 5D is a neat digital package.

If you want a point-and-shoot, the slightly bulkier (FZ-prefixed) of the two styles of Panasonic/Lumix digital with image stabilization are very nice and there are some lovely recent Nikon 35mms. I took this photo with a Nikon Lite Touch—shame about the on-camera flash.

[click to enlarge]

On the subject of zooms…

Use a long lens or the long end of your zoom. For film SLRs this means over 100mm, for others rather less. These also have the advantage that, at large apertures, they tend to turn the background into an out-of-focus backdrop better than shorter lenses. They have the disadvantage that if they are good fixed lens they will cost a bomb. Extend a “yuppie zoom” of the sort sneered at here or get a lens extender on your best 50mm until you can afford better.

Prop yourself up. Leaning your body and/or your camera (arm) against a wall makes you less conspicuous and reduces shake. When you’re not actually taking a photo, if you keep your camera down by your side with the strap wrapped around your arm then you will be less obvious than if you have it hanging symetrically around your neck. This will also give your grip even more stability.

Hide behind other people and watch until you are ready. One of my favourite tricks is to stand outside a loose circle of people and, when a gap appears, pop up and grab a shot of one or two people between the heads of the others.

Anyway. This isn’t a post about being discreet—of which there will probably more tips later; it’s about how you can make a virtue of being seen by your subject(s). Here are a couple of examples to give you some ideas:

Very young babies are inevitably popular subjects for photographs and are often present at weddings and christenings. Unfortunately, when you can see the face of a newborn baby (that is, when it’s not being nursed) it’s usually either crying or scowling. Adults don’t look too pretty when they are crying or scowling and neither do the very young—well, not to me at least; I’m sure their parents feel differently. They are however, less likely to have their faces screwed up in a mask of displeasure if at least one of their needs is being met. Take advantage of this fact and wait, wait, wait until they have attained some kind of temporary peace.

Note the washed-out bright blur of light from the window in this second example. It looks like that because I over-rode the automatic exposure setting of the camera and metered on the baby’s face to ensure that enough light would be let into the camera for the infant’s features to be discerned. This “blew out” the window, but I wasn’t interested in the window and neither were you.

Young children are less self-conscious than adults or teenagers, but they are becoming more and more familiar with cameras at a younger age. This makes them both more and less likely to behave naturally when someone photographs them.

Kids are, however, easily distracted. From experience I can recommend to anyone planning a wedding that putting a well-chosen toy at each child’s place-setting at a dinner reception will give the children’s parents moments of peace for which they will thank you and help busy photographers like me get the relaxed shots they are after.

If a child you want to photograph is avoiding your camera or putting on an (unconvincing) performance in front of it then be patient. (Indeed, “be patient” are two of the first words I would offer to any photojournalist asking me for advice.) Never force a child to have his photo taken, but do try to catch him when he is playing with a toy or distracted by some other shiny happy thing. The flipside of a child’s being easily distracted is that his absorption in play might not last long, so take any opportunity to snap him in action as soon as it appears.

Remember:

• If a young child seems determined to pose or to cry in front of the lens then you might well be able to divert her with a toy—but distractions are as quick to grab a child’s attention as they are to lose it, so seize your shot.
• If you want to be sure there’ll be something that will distract a child then bring along your own toy, or get one of those flowers that shoot water—but please don’t dress up as a clown: clowns are scary.
• If the child has an “action” toy then wait until she is in the middle of throwing/hitting/hugging it and try to freeze that moment.