Choosing A Wedding Photographer

Choosing A Wedding Photographer

Tips to Ensure Great Wedding Photographs

Choosing a Wedding Photographer can seem a daunting task. The photographer is such an important part of the day, and the wedding photographs will be something that are treasured for years.

With the growth in popularity of digital photography many new “Wedding Photographers” are starting up, often armed only with a consumer level camera and kit lens, with no formal training and without any real understanding of photography. That is why I have produced some simple tips to choosing a wedding photographer.

Style

Each Photographer will have their own distinctive style. When viewing the work of photographers think about the style that you want for your coverage, whether it’s formal, relaxed, candid or a mix. Then choose a photographer who’s style matches what you want for your wedding photographs. A common mistake is to choose a photographer based on price and then ask them to produce work that looks like someone else's.

Once you have narrowed down your choice ask to view some of the photographers work in print. Prints show much more detail than viewing images on a computer screen.

Quality

There is more to being a good photographer than having the biggest collection of lenses. That said it is impossible to make the very best quality photographs without using the very best equipment.

Virtually all professional photographers have now moved over to digital. In my opinion there are only a handful of digital cameras suitable for wedding photography: The Canon 1DS, 1D, 5DII, The Nikon D3x, D3s and The Leica S and M series.

When obtaining quotes for your wedding coverage, a simple way to narrow down your search is to ask the photographer what camera they use. If it’s not on the list above then I wouldn’t take the chance.

Another way to gauge a photographers attitude to quality is whether they shoot in RAW or JPG. A JPG image is a compressed digital image, a RAW file is used to create a High Resolution TIFF image. A JPG image contains around 3.5% of the information of a High Resolution TIFF.

What does this mean for your photographs? In short, less detail, fewer colours, less vibrance, less contrast, less sharpness, more noise. The difference in quality is like the difference between cinema quality and a pirate DVD or live music performance compared to a pirate CD. People use JPG’s because the are less labour intensive, they are quick to use and small to save. Professionals shoot in RAW and print from TIFF’s.

Manner

The photographer is an important guest at your wedding. They can have a huge impact on the day for good or bad.

An experienced photographer should circulate around the guest capturing natural candid photographs and have a firm, polite manner when it comes to organising the formal portraits. Most importantly they should put you at ease during the wedding portraiture.

Some wedding photographers are like a Sergeant Major on the parade ground, barking orders at your guests rather than putting them at ease. Probably not what you want.

The secret to being relaxed as a wedding photographer is in the preparation. A wedding photographer should always offer to meet you ahead of the wedding day, to discuss your exact requirements. They should visit the wedding venue ahead of the day to be clear on locations for shooting. They should, if possible, meet the person conducting the ceremony to be clear on what is and is not permitted in terms of photography during the ceremony and they should have a plan for every eventuality. The obvious one being bad weather. The photographer should know exactly what they are doing ahead of the day and be able to cope with the unexpected, so they can leave you to get on with enjoying your big day.

Once you have narrowed down your search, then request a meeting with the possible candidates. If you don’t like them, then don’t book them.

Enjoy Yourself

Having chosen the right photographer, just enjoy your day.