"Wedding Photographers"
Orange County | Newport Beach to Los Angeles, Know how to choose the right Wedding Photographer!
“How
to Choose The Right Photographer and What To Expect”
by Lee Randall Stewart
The Big Day approaches, and probably
sooner than you expect.
Most of your vendors are selected, but you just can not seem to narrow
down the search for your photographer.
You
have searched all the
wedding sites, you
have checked out all their individual sites, and maybe even met with a few, and
you have come to a startling conclusion: they all look the same.
Here is a quick and simple guide that will help make sense of all the
options out there.
Tip #1: Knowledge is Key
Arm yourself with some industry terminology, and know what the differences
are in the various styles of pictures.
Do your research about photography ahead of time.
Know the difference between a candid and a posed shot.
Know what photojournalism is.
Know what you like, and what you don’t like, and do not be afraid to
communicate that to your prospective photographers.
Make this statement: “We want a photographer who knows how to control
the depth of field”.
If he looks at you with a quizzical look that says “I have no idea what
you are talking about”, it might be time to consider ending your meeting
early.
Tip #2: Ask The Right Questions
I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have been asked questions that
must have been taken from outdated sources.
Here are some of the right questions to ask:
-
How
long have you been shooting weddings?
I would not have a photographer on my wedding that has been shooting
weddings for less than 5 years.
Reasons for that are many, but the bottom line is that you want
somebody who really knows what they are doing, has an “eye” as well as
technical knowledge to make things happen.
-
Have
you worked at our venue before?
If the photographer is local, and your wedding venue is local, chances are
he has worked at your venue beforehand.
Ask to see those pictures.
If he has not worked there before, ask if he is willing to go there
ahead of time to scout the location.
-
Our
wedding photography requirement is X hours…do you have a plan that fits
that? Are
your pricing plans negotiable?
Most photographers have 3 or 4 plans to choose from (I personally have more
than that) because I have not yet found one set of packages that will
accommodate everyone.
I have also learned that versatility is key.
-
Do
you bring an assistant?
I usually bring an assistant to help with lighting etc.
My assistant can also double as a second photographer for a small
fee. Check with your photographer…this is a very valuable asset.
-
What
kind of equipment do you have?
Professional photographers should have high end SLR cameras.
In Nikon, those cameras include: the D3, D2X,D2XS, and D2H.
In Canon, those cameras include: EOS1D, 1DS, 5D, and 5DS.
Of course there are other brands and quality levels, but these camera
make up the bulk of the professional wedding photographer’s lineup in
today’s market. Be
aware: Photographers who proudly say that they shoot with the Nikon D200 or
the Canon 10d or 20d are not on the professional level.
Those cameras are designed to be sold to consumers, not
professionals, and while they are good cameras in their own right, they do
not possess the characteristics of professional grade camera bodies.
-
Do
you have backup equipment?
Occasionally, a camera goes down, and without a backup, the perfect wedding
can be ruined. Don’t
leave your precious wedding memories in the hands of someone with low end,
consumer grade equipment and without backup.
It is a recipe for disaster.
Most professionals carry at least 1 backup unit of the same quality
as their main unit.
-
Do
you have any Professional Affiliations?
Most professional photographers with more than 5 years of experience will
have some sort of Professional Affiliation.
Those affiliations can include, but are not limited to: The
Professional Photographer’s Association (Nationwide, State Level, and
maybe even County Level memberships are available), the BBB (Better Business
Bureau), Rotary Clubs, The Wedding Photojournalist Association, and others.
Membership in any of these affiliations is not mandatory, but it says
something positive about the photographer.
Tip
#3: Warning Signs.
Whenever I meet with prospective clients, I give them some warning signs to look
out for. Look
out for any photographer who says “We will shoot some in black and white, some
in color, and some in Sepia”.
That’s a HUGE mistake.
Same thing for “We’ll shoot some in a tight focus, and some with a
soft focus”. The
main reason for this is that most professional photographers use Adobe Photoshop
to edit their pictures.
It is much better to shoot everything in color, and make the switch to
black and white, instead of shooting in black and white.
Once you shoot it with no color information (black and white) you can not
convert it to color…no matter how good your Photoshop skills are.
Same thing for focus.
Look for a photographer who shoots everything with a nice tight focus,
and then can selectively “blur” your image to get the desired effect.
If the image is shot with a soft (blurry) focus, it can not be cleaned up
very easily, and maybe not at all.
My best
friend’s fiancée ignored this advice and told their photographer (I was in
the wedding so I could not do it) to shoot everything with a soft focus.
Their wedding photos were worthless, and she was devastated.
Most couples head into Wedding Day knowing very little about photography, and
even less about Wedding Photography. This
can be a killer. Use the tools I
listed above to know what to expect. The
entire point of
this article is to educate you to the process so that you select
the right Wedding Photographer, and that you understand what that photographer
will provide.
Magazine Quality Photos:
Chances are, if you hire the right photographer, your images will be pretty
close to magazine quality. But you
do need to understand that there are many variables that can affect the quality
of the image, some of which the photographer will have little to no control
over.
Something you need to consider is that the images used for advertisement
purposes in most major magazines are not actual wedding photos, with few
exceptions. They are photos of
professional models, in elegant surroundings, with a small army of people around
to make the pictures perfect: on-set makeup artists, hair stylists, set
decorators, lighting engineers, wardrobe people, and of course, the
photographer. This is very
different from one can expect on Wedding Day.
Venue:
If you have your wedding in someone’s back yard, you are not going to get
images with a view like that of a 5 Star hotel.
Stands to reason, right? Not
to say that there aren’t some elegant backyards around, but a backyard wedding
will always photograph differently than a wedding at a resort with sweeping
views, grand staircases, etc.
Time Of Day:
If your ceremony takes place 30 minutes before sunset, your images after
sunset will all have black backgrounds, no matter how good the camera and lens
is.
Amount of Time Available:
Most weddings allow the couple about an hour or so after the ceremony to
shoot family pictures, and their individual pictures.
The pictures presented in magazine advertisements often took many hours
to compose, and in some case, may have extended into a couple of days.
Cut your photographer some slack…allow enough time for proper
composition, and take time of day into consideration.
Quality:
We have two schools of thought on this subject.
Some photographers believe that if they shoot a thousand images, the
client will be able to select a hundred or so to put into an album.
Other photographers focus on the details of every image, and that’s
great, except that it produces a smaller quantity, and now the client has to
select a hundred or so from 300 images instead of 1000.
I am not saying that either method is better than the other, but be wary
of the photographer that shoots a bunch of pictures, and gives you a CD at the
end of the day. Unless you are a Photoshop Guru, what good is that CD really?
The images are raw, uncorrected, unsharpened, uncropped, and basically
sub-standard in most respects. The
differences between a finished image and a proof quality image will astound you.
Wedding Photography is an art. Light
sources, color temperature,
and angles constantly
change, and thus provide a constant challenge.
Budget:
Don’t ask for the impossible. When
you visualize what you want your wedding album to look like, you must consider
what is financially feasible. In my
experience, there is so much going on during a wedding, and in so many different
areas, that many images the bride and groom may want can easily get overlooked.
We can only be in one place at a time.
The bride is usually getting ready at the same time as the groom, usually
in different locations, and if you want pictures of both, be prepared to spend a
little extra money for a second photographer.
The same applies with candid shots of the guests during cocktail hour,
which is when the bride and groom are off getting their personal pictures done.
So you have to make some decisions.
Can you afford a second photographer so that you can get most of the
events covered? If not, you need to
choose which events during the course of the day are most important to you, and
be able to communicate those ideas to your photographer ahead of time.
Summation:
In the end, you do get
what you pay for. If you
are extremely budget conscious (and let’s face it…who isn’t these days)
and select the lowest bidder, you will probably
end up with the smallest quantity of acceptable images.
Selecting the most expensive photographer does not guarantee anything
either, but if a photographer commands a higher price, and you have seen the
beautiful work, and you have communicated your desires effectively, you are
probably in safer hands.
Remember
this basic rule of photography: The three most important things in a picture
are: Composition, Composition, and Composition. Hire the photographer that understands that, and you will be
well on your way to getting a beautiful wedding album that you will be proud of
for the rest of your days.
|
