A few more ideas on how to Capture Wedding Memories with your iPhone

The last few weeks on the Forever Yours, Flowers blog has been all about wedding photos. We've canvassed the pros and cons of booking a professional wedding photographer as opposed to getting a friend to do the pics. Last week we spent a bit of time on getting great wedding pics with your smart phone.  DIY smart phone photos are quite a big topic, so we thought we'd give you a bit more about it this week.

As we've talked about previously, there are a lot of reasons that a couple might opt for DIY photography. The top ones being cost, the intimacy of the wedding or the fact that photos just aren't a priority. Whatever the reason, read on if you're interested in getting a friend with a sweet camera phone to get some wedding pics on the big day.

1. Find your light

• As much as possible avoid taking your pics in bright sun. You'll often get one of two things, overexposed photos or a whole lot of squinting!
• On the other hand, do ensure you have adequate lighting, particularly if you're shooting inside. Try to make sure that your subject is lit by whatever light source is available - natural or man made. This will avoid dull or washed out pics.
• And while we're talking light, try to avoid shooting into the light source. 
• Finally, avoid using the flash on your camera phone. A smartphone flash will cause redeye and usually an overexposed photo subject. You can play with the exposure manually to get just the right mix.

2. Use Burst Mode for Movement

Don't want to video the first dance? No worries! To capture good images, mid action press click and hold the shutter button down. The camera goes into burst mode which means a quick succession of many photos taken. This is great for the couples first dance or the bouquet/ garter toss. Review the photos, select the good ones, trash the rest.

*Tip: Be sure you've turned this on in your phone's camera settings

3. Tell a story 

For whatever reason you've chosen to go non-conventional with your wedding photos. So make sure you don't ruin that with a heap of staid, posed photos. Boring! The beauty of using something so light and mobile as a smart phone to capture your wedding pics is that it is literally, point and click. So get clicking! Take a heap of photos and try to capture the story, emotion and feeling of the day!

4. Capture the whole day, not just the polished bits

Often the best photos in the album are the candid ones. Where the bride and groom are sneaking a moment alone; or the bridal party is laughing or fixing a hem; or the mother of the bride is sobbing with happiness. Be sure to get as many "getting ready" photos, candid "oops" moments, as well as a few of the venue, the cake, the flowers... you know, the day!

5. Have contingencies

It's a lot to hang all your wedding day memories on one iPhone. Of course this doesn't apply to those of you who are choosing the smart phone option as a second or third photographer, but for those who relying on that smart phone... contingencies. Ask more than one person to be ready with their phone and where applicable have a spare SD card. And because the phone is not a professional camera, and the operator is probably not a professional photographer be prepared to have to look into some correcting software. Places like muvee.com offer software that means you can save the essential pics. It's best to do what you can to avoid having to use corrective software, but very good to be prepared with a backup.

Even if wedding photos aren't a priority for you, you'll be glad when you look back that you chose to capture those wedding memories in any way. We hope these tips on camera phone photography are helpful and wish you all the best with your wedding adventure!

Special thanks to Muvee.com for a inspiring and informing this blog.