Indian Weddings Quest.- please post examples for inspiration

[missy_kay]

<p>I will hopefully be booked for an Indian/scottish wedding this year and I'm really excited!! I'm just worried about missing important rituals that I don't know about. Can anyone please give me a run-down of "do not miss" shots? Also, if you could post your favorite Indian wedding picture I would appreciate it. Thanks!</p>

[umesh_bhayaraju]

<p>The events in the Indian weddings change from north to south and from east to west. Infact it changes from state to state and from region to region, caste to caste. But, the key in most especially north indian weddings is going around the scared fire and taking seven steps i suppose, then going on horse. for south it is tying the 3 knots of the scared thread around brides neck. It is too complex to explain. best suggestion is to take pictures every 30 seconds. :) :D lol</p>

[starvy]

<p>kay, much of the rituals would vary based on geographical location within india. umesh is absolutely right. however, your first starting point is to find out which religion are they practising and if hindu, certainly the location from where they hail from within india would be a great help. that would help us identify what would be common in such weddings.<br>

what you can guarantee is that there would be a lot of colour, mostly ostentatious, but still worth capturing. there is bound to be a videographer. so lightlighy might be complex but less for you to carry. one more thing, don't let yourself be pushed! ask them what they want and stick to that.</p>

[mgk1966]

<p>There will be a lot of stuff going on that will be new to you. But even if you haven't seen it before, you'll know where all the attention is centered, so just stay near it. Have a brother or sister or aunt be designated to let you know in advance when something is about to happen. </p>

[mcmanamey]

<p>It will be so much fun!! We've only shot one Hindu wedding, but the best thing was the casual atmosphere and lack of stress! Why such a lack of stress in a new experience?<br>

1. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING happened THREE times. Miss the shot once? Got 2 more chances!!<br>

2. Family kept telling us, don't worry about getting in our way, just GET THE SHOT. We were everywhere. Literally<br>

3. The best priest ever. When he'd hit a "good part" (something important), he would literally pause the ceremony, look up, point and say, "Photographer!" let us get the shot, then on he went.</p>

<p>I can not begin to describe how much fun the whole night was. This was just one night, being in the central US, and the bride coming from Bellaruss, it was a relatively simple ceremony.<br>

If it is a similar situation where everything is in one place, then just stay right next to the stage in the front row. Front and center. Nobody will mind. If it is a very large, more traditional affair, with things going on all day and in multiple locations, then yes, you'd better have a family member you can either tag next to, or who will follow you and point out the important things.<br>

If your b&g are nearly as organized as ours - they'll make you an exact list ahead of time.</p>

[nishnishant]

<p>The one thing that's generally common to all Indian wedding styles is that flash-photography is not only allowed by highly encouraged :-)</p>

[nishnishant]

<p>One other technical aspect to keep in mind is that Indian skin tones vary from really light (pretty similar to a white caucasian) to really dark (quite similar to an african american). So you'd be photgraphing a group of 10 people and there'd be every shade form black to white - so you'd probably want to adjust your exposure for something in the middle.</p>

[missy_kay]

<p>Nish, thanks for all your advice. Question though, if the bride is Indian and the groom is caucasian, what do you recommend adjusting the exposure to? lol</p>

[mgk1966]

<p>Some would say expose for the bride and forget about the groom. It's not his day. But in reality, it's really only a problem if there is a very stark contrast, such as a dark skinned black person and a very fair white person. Probably not the case here.</p>

[fotografz]

<p>Take the time to learn some of the rituals .... many are quite important, and it is usually expected that you'll cover them.</p>

<p>It often very colorful and packed with shooting opportunities.</p>

<p>Click on my name and go to my p.net portfolio and scroll to the Sikh/Hindu wedding slide show for some examples.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=740526"></a></p>

[umesh_bhayaraju]

<p>Kay, MY guess is that the bride is a north indian as there are so many northis here. So, the contrast may not be that of a problem as they have very nice skin tone which almost matches with the caucasian. As Nish said, flash is encouraged as everyone wants some fun and camera and videocam are someting a part of the occasion. so, set the exposure to bride skin tone (may be a 1/3 stop less), use flash and let the camera take care of the situation. :). and if the girl is a typical south indian. NO suggestions :)....you r in trouble :)</p>

[Ian Taylor]

<p>I shot a Scottish-Indian wedding a couple of years ago. Kilts and saris.<br>

Lots of colour and characters.</p>

[mozammel]

<p>You can find tons of sample pictures at my site:<br>

 

 

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