Tips to hire A Wedding Photographer
Wedding photography is so much more than just having a the latest camera and taking as many pictures as possible on your wedding day. In fact, most aspiring wedding photographers quickly realize that the job is much harder than it looks.
A professional wedding photographer must not only be completely versed in the technical side of the trade, but he must also be artistic and creative. Those are two completely opposite personality traits. How many people do you know are very technologically savvy and artistically creative at the same time?
Having great camera and technical skills will allow the wedding photographer to capture properly exposed, well lit images regardless of the lighting situation and time constraints. On the other hand, having great creative skills will allow the wedding photographer to approach each shot with a unique perspective and artistic vision ensuring that the shots are not just photos, but artistic imagery.
Just as important as their technical knowledge and creativity is the wedding photographers interpersonal skills. Not including engagement shoots, bridal shoots, etc, you are going to be spending a full day with your photographer on the most important day of your life. A wedding photographer with a personality that matches your own is important to the overall experience of your wedding.
Once you get past technique, creativity, and personality, the next thing you should be looking for is experience. Is the wedding photographer actually a professional photographer, or is this their more of a part-time weekend job?
While experience is definitely important, some of the best and most hard- working wedding photographers we have met are experienced photographers, but relatively new as wedding photographers. In situations where you love the photographers style, but are concerned with them not having enough experience, ask to look at their entire collection of images from each event they have shot.
When seeking a photographer, don’t get caught up in the amount of products each photographer is promising. Stay focused on the actual quality of the work provided. If you are on a budget, then think to yourself that you can always purchase an album, or additional prints later (even 5-10 years later), but you can’t change the quality of the photographs taken at the wedding after the wedding day.
For couples who are not working on a smaller budget, many often choose to use more than one photographer. The benefits of this can be equated filming a movie. While watching any movie or your favorite show, you would see a primary story line surrounded by smaller side stories that are happening at the exact same moment. For example, during a wedding ceremony, the main story is obviously the bride and groom. However, there may be multiple side stories occurring at the exact same moment, such as mom or dad wiping the tear from their eyes, or the flower girl sitting in the corner picking petals from a rose in her hands.
No matter how good a photographer is, he/she cannot be at all places at the same time; and so, to compensate, we use multiple wedding photographers, each with a different focus. For example, the lead photographer focuses strictly on the bride and groom. The second wedding photographer would focus on reaction shots from the family, guests, etc.
Image Courtesy – Google Images