1. Can I see an entire album from one wedding? Can I see a clients wedding album?
2. Do you include proofs in the finished album or is every image custom printed?
3. Do you shoot with film or are you digital?
4. Do you have more than one photographer at each wedding?
5. Do you shoot 100% of your own weddings?
6. Do you shoot more than one wedding a day?
7. Are you able to be at the wedding; 4, 6, or 8 hours, and will you stay if we go over?
8. On the average, how many shoots do you take?
9. Do you use CD proofing for parent and families?
10. Do you shoot with professional Kodak or Fugi film?
11. Do you use a professional lab in town to print all of your images?
12. Do you store the negatives for us incase something happens to my wedding album?
13. Do you bring several cameras as well as backup equipment?
14. Do you bring a backdrop and studio lights?
15. Do you shoot classic portraits as well as photojournalism?
16. Do you shoot black and white, sepia, or infrared film rather then convert from color?
17. Will you fallow us to any location or a park for additional pictures?
18. Do you charge creation or travel fees?
19. Do you have pay all the money upfront or do you have payment plans?
20. What photography education do you have and is your training in wedding specialist?
21. What professional associations are you a member of?
Answers to Most of Your Questions You Have About Wedding Photography
One of the biggest mistakes brides make is not hiring the right photographer.
With the pressure of the wedding budget and the desire to have everything as
nice as possible, some brides make a critical mistake by skimping on the memories.
When the wedding is over, all you have is the memories. Photographs are the
reminders of all those special moments. You will show your children, grandchildren,
and new friends. The photographs help you relive your day through the eyes of
the camera lens.
There are so many armatures claming to be photographers. How does one go about choosing the right photographer? How does one know if the photographer is and amateur or a professional? Will the person showing up to the wedding be able to handle the pressures of a wedding? To many time brides get swept up by a fast talking salesperson with all the text book right answers and passes up the opportunity to hire the right photographer.
Take one moment to think about wedding photography this way: Your fiancé has to go in for a surgery and there are three different surgeons you have interviewed. The first surgeon works part-time as a waiter in a restaurant and wants to try a new method of surgery on your fiancé. His packages are very complicated and he dose two or three surgeries in a day. The second surgeon wants to meet you at your house because he doesn’t have a place of business, and to save you money he will be the only one in the operating room. His equipment is old and banged up but he says it still works after 30 years. And the third Surgeon purchased the business from another surgeon who retired, he has been in business for 35 years, and has several associated surgeons to complete the surgery for him unless you pay more. Which one is the best choice? NONE!!! Would you hire any surgeon for a “life changing” event, then why would you hire any photographer for a “once in a lifetime” event.
For some reason, there are a few people who think weddings are the easy. If
a Photographer makes a mistake with your high school senior pictures, you can
always shoot them again. If a Photographer makes a mistake with your family
pictures, you can always shoot them again. If a Photographer makes a mistake
with your children’s pictures, you can always shoot them again. But a
wedding is an event, a once in a life time moment, one moment in time that is
stopped only on film. A professional wedding specialist is a photographer that
can handle a thousand things thrown at him and his job is to sort them out and
create incredible images. In Kansas City there are less than 25 professional
wedding specialists.
The following information is for you to sort out the armatures from the professionals.
The best advice is to meet with the actual photographer who will be photographing your wedding. It is important to actually meet with the photographer not just look at their work on line. With today’s technology it is very easy to make almost any image spectacular on the Internet or on the computer. Look at their photography work; discuss how you want to remember your wedding day and talk about the process and how the photographer would handle the organization of the photography. Determine if the photographer is flexible or demanding about deviations from the established schedule, and if they are open to special photo requests. This is a once in a lifetime event; make sure you choose your photographer carefully! These are subjects to help in your conquest.
The quality of your images is probably very important to you. After all, this is your wedding day. We want the quality of our work to be the very best it can be. We limit the number of weddings we do each year to be able to get to know each of our clients. The more we are able to work with you the better we are able to capture your true personalities. We are constantly striving to improve our customer service. We want your experience to be a good one. Many of the photographers that photograph weddings do not want to provide a service to their clients. They want to photograph the wedding and let you do all the rest. They don’t want to be responsible for designing or putting your album together. They don’t even want to be responsible for reprints for you or your family.
Most professionals have a non-refundable deposit. This is money set aside to hold the date. Most professionals have a 30-day guarantee after the wedding, if you view the pictures within 30 days after the wedding and you do not like the images you get the deposit money back. But remember, that means you don’t get the images. Most professionals also have a 30-day guarantee on the photographer’s workmanship of the album. From time to time an image may slip or you may see some dust spots in an image the photographer may have missed. Some album companies also have a lifetime guarantee on the workmanship of the album. This doesn’t cover normal wear and tear.
A professional photographer will often times restrict the number of wedding they shoot in a year to about 30 – 40 weddings. By the time you add in vacations with the family, holidays, wedding shows to sign new brides, educational workshops to expand their knowledge, and conventions to get new ideas, you are out of weekends for that are year. Also, you don’t want a photographer that’s too busy shooting a new wedding; he doesn’t have the time to finish your album. Never, I mean NEVER hire a photographer that shoots more than one wedding in a day!!! 24 hours!!! This is the one complaint about armatures. Why would you share you photographer with another bride? You didn’t share a dress with another bride on your wedding day. Why, because it would be all worn out. Same thing with your photographer. Second, what happens if the first wedding or the second wedding takes longer than they expected. You miss out on pictures.
Let me give you an example: A bride called me at my home on her wedding day, a Saturday I had a late evening wedding. She wanted to know if I could come to her reception a few miles away and finish the reception photographs because her photographer had booked five weddings for the day, two weddings for the owner, one wedding for the owner’s assistant, and two weddings for his trusted second photographer. The trusted second photographer went to the lake and left the owner holding the bag. The owner was two hours late to her wedding because he was shooting a morning wedding and left two hour early from the reception, because he was an hour late to the third wedding, forty-five minutes away. One wedding, one day.
This is a trick question for the trick answer. Most of us believe, the word unlimited coverage means, “Complete coverage”. Sad to say this is not the case. For example, if someone says unlimited wedding day coverage. Your response should be “Is that within 24 hour, because if it did mean that, if you had the rehearsal and dinner the night before, they would be shooting, or the second your alarm goes off in the morning they would photograph you with your alarm clock, or maybe even wait outside your hotel to get that picture of the moment of you climbing on the plane to Hawaii. Unlimited images might mean a 4x5 picture of every individual person attending your wedding including the photographers, florists, caterers and stray people who may walk by the church that morning. Ok, I think you get the point. (I was having too much fun there for a second.) Some armature photographers use the word unlimited to protect themselves; others add it for hype to get more business. Remember this rule: Any time someone uses the words unlimited; replace it with “I am not going to tell you.”
5. Creation fees, Photographer fees, and Additional fees
Some Professional photographers have creation fees, we don’t. When you get into creation fees, additional fees, album fees, and extra time fees, sometime it all becomes gray as to what you pay. KEEP IT SIMPLE. Remember, there are two types of studio salespersons, the “nickel and dimers’” and the “lump sumers’.” Yes, as you figured the “nickel and dimers’” charge you for every little thing and the “lump sumers’” charge a little more, but throw in some things. Which is better, they average out the same. It depends a lot on what kind of a buyer you are, A “nickel and dimer’” or a “lump sumer’.”
Ten years ago one photographer could shoot a wedding. But with the increase in photojournalism and the combination of traditional and photojournalism and stops in the park and digital photography, it is impossible to shoot a wedding alone. I think one photographer can shoot a traditional wedding with less then 100 people, in a ceremony and reception in one location. If you want a combination of traditional and photojournalism, it will take more than one photographer. The most important thing to remember is will one of the photographers be a woman? Often time, with a husband and wife team, the wife will go into the dressing room with the bride to get “getting ready images” and the husband will be in with the groom. Not too many brides want some guy in the dressing room taking pictures of their secret thingies. Also two or three photographers can divide up the wedding duties to cover different groups, one photographer for her family, one photographer for his, and one to cover wedding party, ECT.
A Pre-wedding consultation is a must with each of our clients. It is very important for us to understand exactly what it is that is important to you. Each client is different. This is where we plan out the day. We want to be able to make the most of the time you have with us. The better planned your day, the less time you’ll need to spend with the photographer taking your formal images.
When you go to visit the photographer in his studio, look or ask to see the studio. (Camera Room) Remember, a surgeon has his room with a table and tools, the dentist has his room with a chair and tools, and your photographer should have a room with his tools. A photographer without a camera room is just an armature. If he can’t shoot seniors, families, or children will you trust him with your friends, family and 300 guests?
When you visit a photographer’s studio it is important to view wall portraits. Desk prints such as an 8x10 or 5x7 look good. The real test is a wall portrait. When you get into an adequately sized portrait (20x24 and larger) you can really tell the quality. You should not see any grain. 11x14, 16x20 and 20x24 can be ordered thru a one hour photo type lab. Large wall portraits are a custom print and will need to have been printed in a professional lab. Your photographer should also have the capability to custom frame your images. Amateur photographers are not able to contract with reputable frame companies. When you are shopping for a professional photographer one way to determine if they use a pro lab is to see what sizes they sell. Do they sell 4x6 or 4x5? A 4x6 is an armature image size. It can be printed at a one hour photo type lab.
Proofs are a funny thing. They were designed originally to allow the clients to view their photographs and make choices as to what they want to purchase. A proof is an inferior print. It is not color corrected, dust spotted, or custom cropped. A proof is a substandard print. However, proofs are not cheap to make. When a bride and groom get a proof book they have all of the images the photographer photographed. All of the pictures including the bad ones and the duplicates are included. They are all put in a “proof book” under plastic sleeves where the photographs can’t breath. That is ok for short term, but you’d never want to keep those images in the books. The “proof book” is then passed around from family to family. (It can get expensive when some of the family lives out of town and you have to ship the book.) With all of the technology we have today, there are much better alternatives to proof books. One of the easiest methods is to place your images in digital form onto a CD that you can copy and pass to everyone who would like to see your pictures. Another reason to stay clear of “proofs” is you really want your friends and family to be excited by your finished wedding album. When they see your “proof” book they are seeing your wedding pictures. In their minds they have already seen your pictures. They are not nearly as excited about the final product as when they don’t have a “proof” book to look at. Many photographers that use “proofs” have a creation fee that ranges anywhere from $200.00 to $500.00. This money is usually used to pay for “proofs” from the lab. Then after the wedding you may be approached to buy the “proofs” at half price. You really wouldn’t be paying half price; in essence, you’ve already bought and paid for your “proofs” once. Often it is less expensive to custom print your favorite images rather than pay for proofing an entire wedding.
Today there are wedding albums, engagement albums, bridal albums, groom albums, parent albums, miniature albums, coffee table albums, albums, albums, and more albums. First of all ask: What is the guarantee on the albums? Are the prints in the album proofs or are they custom printed? Then ask to see a recent client’s book. Every photographer wants to sell you on his best work. When you ask to see a client’s book you get to see the no frills album this may change your mind. It is hard to tell today if the sample books being shown are their work or someone else’s. For example, earlier today an album company called me and wanted me to order a free sample from them. I said “When I get some time I will send you some images so you can create my free sample.” The voice on the phone said “Oh!! I didn’t mean to suggest we could us your images; we have paid thousands of dollars to use a famous photographer to represent our company. The sample would have his images in it, but there is no problem, no one will know that they aren’t your images.” Be careful, it is not always what it seems.
Look to make sure the album is a complete wedding album not just a best of book. Ask then: Is this the same type of album I will be getting with my pictures.
Another example: An armature photographer decided to photograph weddings. Did he apprentice for a master photographer? No!! Did he enroll in classes? No!! He took his $300 and entered into a wedding show. No Sample!! No Sample Books!! Never shot a wedding in his life. He booked 25 wedding!! Six months later he had saved enough money to hire a professional photographer to shoot a sample. He paid a photographer $4000 to make his a sample album. This happens all the time.
Most brides today like their wedding album to actually tell a story and not just a photo album. Do the books tell a story or are they random images? With the computer and digital age, there are incredible programs that allow the bride to pre-visualize the album before it is even ordered.
The design process can be overwhelming especially if you are left to the task without help. Would you believe some photographers do not want to give you a finished wedding album? They would rather give you the proofs and the negatives and never see you again. You will definitely want a finished album, but you will also want that album to be designed specifically for you. We know each client has different tastes. Each album we help you to create is a direct reflection of your wedding day and your tastes. Some photographers like to completely design your album and sell you a completed book. We think it is important to get your input. Sometimes a bride thinks they will want to do their own album. We have found after 6 months to a year a bride no longer is interested or has the time to truly create a beautiful album. Once you purchase the photographs and all the materials needed to create your own album you will have spent as much if not more when you factor in your time.
13. Optional backdrop and studio lights
It is very important your photographer understands lighting. So many churches are dimly lit. When you pick-up your formal group photographs, you want to be able to see everyone's faces with out shadows. A professional photographer should always have the ability to adequately light group formals in front of the alter. This should not be done with an on camera flash, but rather with studio lighting that is controlled. An on camera flash does not have the power to adequately light an entire sanctuary.
It is also nice to have a photographer that has access to a portable backdrop. Not every church is beautiful. Sometimes some of the images such as the ones with the bride and her maid of honor or the bride and her mom are better taken in an area other than the alter. You certainly do not want all of your formal images to have the same background. It is nice to be able to go outside, or by a set of big beautiful windows. However, what happens if it is unbearably hot or cold or raining. A portable background can be a good alternative.
14. Professional camera or armature 35mm
A professional camera is very important. It allows the photographer greater flexibility as well as better quality. A medium format camera is needed for a higher quality final print. It uses special film that creates a negative that is significantly larger than a 35mm negative. This allows the photographer to enlarge the image getting a much clearer image. Realize an armature photographer will only be photographing with a 35mm camera. (Digital or film) Professional photographers will use multiple cameras for various reasons. (Large format, view camera, 2 ¼ x 2 ¼, fish eye camera, infrared camera, and a 35mm professional camera.
15. Portraits and Photojournalism
Most clients want traditional wedding photography as well as photojournalism. This both documents the important participants such as the families and the wedding party, and tell your story of the day. You really need at least two photographers to adequately cover a wedding with photojournalism. It is also nice to be able to have two wedding albums. One is your formal portrait book; the other is your storybook.
Film is a vital part of your wedding photography. You want your film to be
at its peak. This gives you the best color, and depth possible. Professional
film when handled correctly should be at its peak. It has an expiration date
and should be kept refrigerated until ready to use. A professional photographer
will not give you their negatives. When a photographer releases the negatives
to you the client the photographer is no longer responsible for the outcome
of your images. A professional photographer will keep your images on file so
if anything ever happens to your album or an image your photographer will have
to ability to recreate those images. A professional will store your negatives
correctly for future use. Many photographers that give you the negatives may
not use professional film. They are able to buy in bulk and it doesn’t
matter to them that the negatives may not last more than a couple of years.
Many professional film types can only be reprinted at a professional lab. This
is another reason the professional photographer will store your negatives for
you. You would not be able to have them printed at just any lab.
17. A la cart
A la cart allows you the flexibility to purchase the products you want. There are a lot of packages out there, but is any package exactly perfect for you? With a la cart packaging and pricing you are able to purchase the products you want and not be stuck with something you don’t need. Many times packages have hidden costs. When you break the package down you may be paying for more than you realized. With a la carte pricing you are basically paying for your album cover, the pages, and the images.
Experience in wedding photography is an absolute must. Weddings can be so very unpredictable. When a photographer is photographing in a studio, he has complete control of lighting, backgrounds, equipment, etc. At a wedding anything can happen. (And sometimes does!) Your photographer needs to be a wedding specialist. Your photographer must be able to roll with the punches, keep calm regardless of what is going on around him. Your photographs ultimately depend on how adaptable your photographer can be. For instance, what happens if the tuxes or the bridesmaid’s gowns don’t make it to the church on time and the photographs get started over an hour late? Will your photographer be able to keep you calm, help you to have fun and still get the images you want without making the wedding run late?
A rain session is an option for the bride and groom when outdoor images are vitally important and we are unable to do them the day of the wedding because of the weather. It allows us to capture the images after the wedding days that were so important.
20. Photographic Organizations
There is one main professional association that professional photographers should be a member of. The Professional Photographers of America also known as the PPA is a wonderful organization that constantly keeps the active professional photographer up to date with the newest and latest techniques in photography. They have state organizations such as the Kansas Professional Photographers of America also known as KPPA. Your photographer should definitely be a member. When planning your wedding date you may want to check their calendar to see if your date is on a weekend one of the processional organizations has an event scheduled. Remember all the professionals will be at the meeting on your date. Some websites to check are ppa.com, kppa.org, and hoappa.com.