Wedding Photography - How to Make Your Selection
Our memories are powerful things, but often they can become foggy with time and it will be the beautiful photographs captured through your life that stand to remind us of the important events, so when it comes to your wedding, possibly the most important day of your life, why take risks on the person capturing the scene.
Now I wouldn't want to embarrass friends, family or random acquaintances whose wedding photographs I have seen, but there do seem to be quite a few who have had professionals taking pictures that I myself am capable of taking.
And while I am a competent photographer weddings are not my game and I would expect more than I could give.
In these days of digital photography, wedding photography seems to have become a get rich quick incentive for large numbers of people who truly believe that because they have expensive equipment they can make money touting their wares as a professional wedding photographer.
Unfortunately for the un-suspecting bride and groom this does not always (or even often) tally up.
Wedding photography is an art and it should be one of the most important items on any wedding planners list, unfortunately it seems not to be, maybe I can help change that! These are my tips to help choose a wedding photographer: Services It is my opinion that the most important aspect in choosing a wedding photographer is to decide what it is exactly that you want your photographer to deliver to you.
The options are almost endless, but can range from hundreds of un-edited files on a DVD to professionally made books containing well edited photographs chosen specifically by you from the range taken.
Read a few blogs, visit planning websites and forums and see what you would like, once you know what it is that you want you can then go on to look at other aspects.
Style There are many different styles of wedding photography, from the standard group shoots to more journalistic natural photos taken without the subject knowing, choosing the style of photography you like is important so don't pick a photographer and go to them saying I want this style instead look for a photographer who already shoots the style you like, this will help avoid disappointment.
But it is not just about the style of the wedding photographs, no, the style of the photographer is equally important, and you should meet a few to see if they are the sort of person you would be happy to have attend your wedding, there can be little worse than having someone at your wedding who you can't get along with.
It will also make their job harder as there will be times when they will need to control you or your guests to get the photos you want.
As an aside, but while still thinking of the photographer, you may be advised to see if they have any previous customers who would be willing to talk to you, this way you are likely to get an outsiders perspective of how they behaved or worked.
Location While many photographers are willing to travel to your wedding (there may be extra costs involved here) it makes more sense to me to have a photographer who is either local to you, however there are two trains of thought here if your wedding is at some distance from you a photographer local to the area of the event may make more sense.
Below I will explain my thinking.
Photographer close to you: you have the advantage of being able to easily access the photographer should you wish to discuss things or in the event of problems meet to resolve any issues.
Photographer close to the venue: A photographer who is based near the location of your wedding is often likely to have shot other weddings at the venue, this means they have the advantage of knowing the best spots to bring the best out of you, or in the event of rain or inclement weather will have the best chance of knowing a spot they can continue to work.
Cost OK so the all important part, cost! While it may seem ideal to find a cheap wedding photographer there can and often are problems with this, a simple internet search will show you the amount of traumatic experiences other couples have faced.
Now I am not saying all cheap photographers are going to be poor, but it stands to reason that the better a photographer is the more likely they are to keep getting business and repeat business and experience will inevitably lead to increased fees.
That sai there are very expensive photographers who will not take great images; so my final piece of advice is of vital importance.
Portfolio Check each photographer's portfolio well, look for images of the same bride in different dresses, or all the brides looking like models, there are many courses open to photographers to learn wedding photography and the chances are that a photographer starting out will only have images from these types of event, now while we all have to start somewhere, there used to be a tradition of apprentices learning your photographic trade with an experienced wedding photographer would have provided more opportunities to photograph different weddings and give a better service to the client.
So check portfolios!!
Now I wouldn't want to embarrass friends, family or random acquaintances whose wedding photographs I have seen, but there do seem to be quite a few who have had professionals taking pictures that I myself am capable of taking.
And while I am a competent photographer weddings are not my game and I would expect more than I could give.
In these days of digital photography, wedding photography seems to have become a get rich quick incentive for large numbers of people who truly believe that because they have expensive equipment they can make money touting their wares as a professional wedding photographer.
Unfortunately for the un-suspecting bride and groom this does not always (or even often) tally up.
Wedding photography is an art and it should be one of the most important items on any wedding planners list, unfortunately it seems not to be, maybe I can help change that! These are my tips to help choose a wedding photographer: Services It is my opinion that the most important aspect in choosing a wedding photographer is to decide what it is exactly that you want your photographer to deliver to you.
The options are almost endless, but can range from hundreds of un-edited files on a DVD to professionally made books containing well edited photographs chosen specifically by you from the range taken.
Read a few blogs, visit planning websites and forums and see what you would like, once you know what it is that you want you can then go on to look at other aspects.
Style There are many different styles of wedding photography, from the standard group shoots to more journalistic natural photos taken without the subject knowing, choosing the style of photography you like is important so don't pick a photographer and go to them saying I want this style instead look for a photographer who already shoots the style you like, this will help avoid disappointment.
But it is not just about the style of the wedding photographs, no, the style of the photographer is equally important, and you should meet a few to see if they are the sort of person you would be happy to have attend your wedding, there can be little worse than having someone at your wedding who you can't get along with.
It will also make their job harder as there will be times when they will need to control you or your guests to get the photos you want.
As an aside, but while still thinking of the photographer, you may be advised to see if they have any previous customers who would be willing to talk to you, this way you are likely to get an outsiders perspective of how they behaved or worked.
Location While many photographers are willing to travel to your wedding (there may be extra costs involved here) it makes more sense to me to have a photographer who is either local to you, however there are two trains of thought here if your wedding is at some distance from you a photographer local to the area of the event may make more sense.
Below I will explain my thinking.
Photographer close to you: you have the advantage of being able to easily access the photographer should you wish to discuss things or in the event of problems meet to resolve any issues.
Photographer close to the venue: A photographer who is based near the location of your wedding is often likely to have shot other weddings at the venue, this means they have the advantage of knowing the best spots to bring the best out of you, or in the event of rain or inclement weather will have the best chance of knowing a spot they can continue to work.
Cost OK so the all important part, cost! While it may seem ideal to find a cheap wedding photographer there can and often are problems with this, a simple internet search will show you the amount of traumatic experiences other couples have faced.
Now I am not saying all cheap photographers are going to be poor, but it stands to reason that the better a photographer is the more likely they are to keep getting business and repeat business and experience will inevitably lead to increased fees.
That sai there are very expensive photographers who will not take great images; so my final piece of advice is of vital importance.
Portfolio Check each photographer's portfolio well, look for images of the same bride in different dresses, or all the brides looking like models, there are many courses open to photographers to learn wedding photography and the chances are that a photographer starting out will only have images from these types of event, now while we all have to start somewhere, there used to be a tradition of apprentices learning your photographic trade with an experienced wedding photographer would have provided more opportunities to photograph different weddings and give a better service to the client.
So check portfolios!!
