Many people get very shy when you bring out a camera, and really do not feel comfortable having their picture taken or being filmed. It is very common, a lot of people have a fake smile they plaster on for photos. But a happy and natural smile always looks best! Here are a few tips on how to act naturally and get the most out of your video shoot.
1. Laugh! Try to make each other laugh. Tell a joke or try funny poses to loosen up a bit and a nice smile will come naturally which looks much better on camera than a forced one. Be weird, only the good shots will make it into the video anyways.
2. Be in the moment! Try and isolate yourself in the moment. It’s hard but if you can focus on the moment and try to forget that there is a camera around it will help to behave less stiff. Look into each others eyes and think about the life that is ahead of you with your loved one and enjoy the moment away from the crowd. You just got married and this is the time where you can be alone for a bit and also talk about the impressions you two had so far.
If you don't like looking straight
into the camera.... Then don't!!
3. Find the right videographer! If you have a friendly videographer this makes a big difference to your experience. If you have a person around that you feel comfortable with, you are more likely to open up and behave more naturally in front of the camera. Normally you should meet with your videographer at least once before your wedding so you can not just talk about the schedule of the day, but also get to know them. Talk about how you envision your wedding video and what you like or don’t like. A good wedding videographer makes you laugh, is friendly and always wears a smile so their enthusiasm jumps over to you. A wedding video with soul and true emotions is, for us at least, a better wedding video than a highly polished one where everything feels fake and staged. So make sure you pick a videographer that not only is skillful with a camera, but also the right person behind the camera for your special day.
4. Practice! And by that, we don’t mean practice poses but maybe look at other wedding videos and write down which shots you like and which don’t. For some couples, kissing intimately is too cheesy and they just want to wander together to a nice place or sit together by the water. Some couples like to go all in. Everyone likes different things. Make sure, you as a couple are on the same page and want the same out of the shots. If one of you maybe doesn’t feel comfortable doing a certain shot, find a compromise and decide together. This helps to stay relaxed because if you both know what is going to happen you will be less stiff and lose some of that anxiety.
5. Take a good friend with you! This sounds a bit weird because not everyone can be intimate in front of their friends but if you can and you have a really good friend who makes the two of you laugh and loosens up the whole atmosphere with their jokes or instructions because they know you two very well, why not. It is normally the job of the videographer but a good friend can help to make you feel less uncomfortable in the whole situation. It will be maybe hard to get these intimate shots but you definitely can get some very fun and laughing moments out of that. Once you get some nice laughing or smile shots, the friend can slowly disappear and you can try to get some intimate shots after you warmed up with the whole situation.
We hope these quick tips will help you feel less awkward and more prepared when you are in front of a camera. It’s totally normal to not feel comfortable in front of a camera because it’s not something we do all the time. For a lot of people it’s the first time and some are naturals and some need to warm up with the situation. But whatever you do, don’t force anything, it will show on the video and will ruin the mood.
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