Guest blogger: Melissa Stallings, Missy Loves Jerry Photography

There are hundreds of different ways to approach photographing wedding details, and there are (of course) no hard and fast rules around how you create your photographs.

What I’ve prepared is simply my own personal approach to creating “detail” photographs that reflect my style. Before photographing your next wedding, try these five tips for capturing the little details that make wedding days so memorable:

1. Crop your photos in-camera.

I try to never fall back on saying “I’ll edit that out later,” or “I’ll crop it afterwards.” If you get it right in-camera, you’ll save yourself time later…and you’ll be a better photographer for it. 

So be mindful of your background, surroundings, and lighting when you’re creating your photograph. If there is something distracting in the background or in the frame of your photograph, eliminate it from the shot before taking the photo. Step closer to your subject, or rotate to a different angle that avoids any distractions from the photo you intend to take.

2. Find clean backgrounds.

Take advantage of a clean background any chance you get! If you have a choice between photographing an element with lots going on in the background and photographing that element against a solid background, it’s almost always better to choose the blank background. Your goal is to make sure the subject of your photo rings loud and clear in the final image.

For instance, when photographing table decor, find the one table in the room that has the best light and the most flattering background, and spend your time documenting the elements of that table more than those on the others.







3. Stylize!

“Stylizing” means adding to, or rearranging the elements surrounding the subject of your photograph to create exactly the photo that you want. Use elements from the wedding day in the photographs of your details that reflect the overall theme of the wedding.

For example, find a flower blossom or ribbon to complement the ring shot, or include on of the bridesmaid’s dresses in your shoe shot. This is not only a great way to tie in the wedding colors, but also helps portray your unique style.

4. Use the wedding colors.

As I begin to shoot a wedding, I am already thinking about what the blog post will look like. I’m thinking about what shot I can take that will complement the one I took before it. When you scroll through a bride’s gallery, the colors of the wedding should be represented so the theme is readily apparent to the viewer.

For example, if the wedding colors are blue, you want to see blue in as many “detail” photos as you can. Find elements at the venue that you can use in stylizing the photos to incorporate the wedding theme. Use a piece of furniture from the venue that flows with the overall style, or the wall of a nearby building that just so happens to be painted in one of the wedding colors. Get creative and have the ultimate goal in mind to use something in every detail photo that reflects a piece of the wedding’s look and feel.

To make sure I’ll always have something to add to my “detail” photos, I keep a bag in my car full of ribbon segments and 1/2-yard pieces of fabric in varying colors and textures. This way I always have a little something extra to tie each photograph together.

5. Simplify.

Stylizing your photos and challenging yourself to incorporate elements from the wedding day into your photos is SO much fun…but be careful to not go overboard and clutter your images! You still want any additional elements in your photo to complement the item you are photographing, not fight for your attention.

It’s almost always best to photograph one detail at a time. If you try to include rings, shoes, jewelry, and the garter all in one photo, none of the elements will have a moment to shine. Keeping the focus of the image on one or two details at a time allows the couple to see that their hard work in planning each and every detail really paid off!





Melissa Stallings is a wedding photographer in eastern North Carolina. Together with her husband Jerry, she specializes in capturing bright, joyful, and romantic photos for couples in love. When photographing a wedding, their goal is to photograph genuine moments of happiness on a couple’s wedding day, to elicit real smiles and laughs, and to document true joy!