Remember that the Wedding Photographer NYC works for you! You must be happy with the result of his work because the pictures he takes will sell you and play a huge role in your career. Try to make sure that your photographer can portray the real you and not just a generic image or look. Communicate your wishes to the photographer and seek his input. Conversely, you can look through publications and find pictures that capture the look you want for yourself and take them to your photographer.
Remember that your mini-book won’t come together overnight. It takes time and effort to create the right portfolio and many sessions are required to create a rounded collection of pictures. It is likely that you may need to implement the services of more than one photographer to capture all the looks you want and all the different sides of you. Also, working with several different photographers will boost your confidence and experience, allowing you to feel better about being photographed once you land a job.
Picture selection
Decide if you want to use black and white or color photographs. Black and white is required for headshots, while color enliven full body photographs. Again, don’t let the photographer fool you and tell you what you “have” to do. Shoot all your pictures on slides (transparencies) because they give you the ability to print both color and black and white copies whenever you need them.
Always request to have the negatives given to you on slides so you are in control of producing copies of any photographs that were taken. Do not put yourself in a position where you must rely on a photographer to provide negatives for you every time you want to make copies of your own shots!
Sign an agreement with your photographer that insures that all his work will be done on slides and that you will retain full ownership and control of your pictures. If a photographer wishes to use any of the pictures from your photo shoot, allow him to use them for a fee.
Expect to pay about $100 for a photo session, but do not be surprised if the price is significantly higher or lower depending upon where in the continental U.S. your photographer resides. If you only get one or two good pictures from a roll of 24, your time and money were well spent. Remember not to settle for mediocre photographs unless you want to look simply mediocre. Find the ones that make you look great!
Obviously your wedding is one of, if not the biggest day of your life. Getting the right photographer is so important, as they will provide (if they are doing their job properly that is!) the only formal, lasting, and best record of your day. There are many other details that need to be sorted out for a wedding, but the photographer will be providing the only tangible, lasting record of the day, which should contain within it all those details you have worked so hard to get as you want them on the day.
Obviously now we all have digital cameras, mobile phones etc there will be a wealth of photographs taken on the day, but I can absolutely guarantee you that none will compare with the photographs taken by a professional photographer. In my writing today I am making the assumption that the professional photographer I am referring to is competent in their field, and is providing a professional service.
So what do you need to consider when choosing your wedding photographer?
A professional photographer should give you a written quotation, with terms and conditions, and exactly what you are going to be getting for your money. If you are paying for a professional service this is a must. Anything less than this is not acceptable.
Your photographer should pretty much run the day for you, as along with potentially a wedding planner/ organiser, they will be the only people with you from first thing in the morning to the first dance – and after that you probably won’t care anyway!!
In discussions with the photographer you should say what you want, might want and don’t want, such as
Style of photography,
Specific shots you want,
Formal shots,
Informal shots,
Group shots,
Who gets on,
Who doesn’t get on!!
Album, DVD, prints, video.
Any other additional products and services, such as a DVD slide show of the images included in the album, additional albums for parents, family members and guests, trash the dress on return from their honeymoon, editing of a pictures to specific requirements, etc.
Once you have said what you want, listen to what else is available, and to what the photographer can provide for you. Remember the photographer may be attending, and working at, 50 weddings a year, which you surely won’t be, so their experience is invaluable to you.
Timings on the day should be discussed, to ensure that there is enough time to achieve what you want to achieve, because I can assure you the time will go so quickly on the day.
Be wary of “up selling”. Some photographers make their money by what is called in the trade “upselling”. They appear cheap at first, until you realise that they are not providing everything that you want. When you add in all the things that you do actually want, sometimes after the event, you would not have committed to that much money! An example of this is where a photographer charges you 400 for the images copyright free on DVD. Now there is nothing wrong with this, and it is a photographer’s right to charge what they think is appropriate, but surely you have already paid for this by engaging them in the first place?
Expensive does not necessarily mean better by the way.
But having a photographer you feel that you can get on has immense value. Your wedding day is a day to be enjoyed, and a photographer can, believe it or not, pull together the parts of the day and help make things go smoothly. If you think about it, how else are they going to record the day? A competent, professional, organised and most important in my opinion sociable wedding photographer will really make a difference on the day, and give you a few things less to worry about. If you let them take control of the day, to allow them to do their work, they will be happy and hopefully so will you!
Examples of a photographer’s previous work are helpful, along with references from previous clients, and possibly venues as well. I know of photographers who are recommended by venues as being a dream to work with, but have also heard of tales of photographers being banned from venues for causing so many problems! If a photographer does not have previous wedding experience, but appears to know what they are doing and has worked in a professional capacity in a different photographic field then fine, but expect to pay a bit less than for a seasoned quality professional wedding photographer.
After sales are important, when will you see the images, how do you get albums, how do guests buy pictures? A really great feature made possible by the internet is to have your wedding photographs online, so you can view them on your honeymoon. This can be password protected so only you as the married couple, or whoever you want, can view them.
I will say it again – if you like your photographer this will help. You might be considering hiring the best photographer in the world, but how would you feel on the day if you did not actually like them?
Friends
One final thought, and that is getting a friend to photograph your wedding. Lots of people think that they can take professional photographs by having a good quality camera. They may be able to, but there is a chance that they may not! How many non-professional photographers know how to custom white balance to ensure that the brides dress is actually the correct colour? I say very few. You might get a set of photographs that you are delighted with, but you might not. And if you don’t imagine how your friend would feel?
