We recently posted a reel on our Instagram discussing the trend of blurry wedding photos and asked, “Is this art or is it a mistake?” The response was huge, with the reel racking up over 200,000 views and many heated comments. You can view the reel HERE. One thing is for certain though: depending on whom you ask, these blurry wedding photos are either everything wrong with wedding photography or the next big secret that everyone is discovering.

What are 'blurry wedding photos'?

Blurry photos are a simple way of referring to motion blur images, achieved by shooting at slower shutter speeds around 1/60 or 1/100, depending on the amount of movement. This allows blur to happen either from the subject moving within the frame or the camera itself being moved.

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Yeah, ok, but is this a good thing?

The answer is yes, sometimes. This blurry trend follows a wider movement in wedding photography that leans towards images that feel more authentic, real, and unproduced—something less perfect and staged. Something that feels a little bit more like real life and real love, where there is sometimes chaos, imperfection, and always movement. We are resonating with photography that highlights and celebrates this—the rush of the hugs after the ceremony, the run back down the aisle, or the dash to the reception tables. One Instagram commenter insightfully called blurry photos "a medium to find the magic in the transitions of the wedding day." Yes, this is the 'art' in this trend.

The Mistake.

Lots of wedding photographers are jumping on this trend and making many things questionably blurry. Innocent shoes on a chair—blurry. A beautiful building—completely blurred out of existence. A posed and static couple—blurry. There is no movement here, and the blur trend is just layered on. We are not quite sure if this aligns with the blurry photo goal of authentic, full-of-feeling, in-the-moment, take-you-back-to-the-experience images. Here’s what a few commenters on our Instagram post mentioned.

But listen…

Despite the bad examples of this trend, we think it's worth learning, playing around with, and potentially incorporating into your galleries. We are also not suggesting doing this too much—just a sprinkling here and there. With all that in mind, here are a few 'rules' to keep in mind that will serve you well:

1. Blur things that move. A good general rule is, “The subject moves, not your camera.”
2. Make sure you can still see your subject. There’s not much worse than not being able to understand what is even in the image or warping a face beyond recognition.
3. Use it to break up a scene or a gallery—to show movement from one scene to another. But don’t make whole scenes or key moments blurry.
4. Generally, a shutter speed of ‘1/your focal length’ works well. Shooting 35mm? 1/30 or 1/40. 85mm? 1/80. 🙌🏼

Image by Teresa Kelly

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